THE 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  CAREER 


OF 


HON.  HORACE  GREELEY. 


BY 


WILLIAM   M.    CORNELL,   LL.D., 

AUTHOR  OF  "LIFE  OF  ROBERT  RAIKKS,"  ETC. 


BOSTON : 
PUBLISHED    BY    LEE    AND    SHEPARD. 

NEW  YORK:  LEE,  SHEPARD,  &  DILLTNGHAM. 
PHILADELPHIA  :  H.  C.  JOHNSON. 

1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872, 

BY  WILLIAM   M.    CORNELL, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


Bnstan  : 


Boston  : 
Rand,  A  very,  &•  Co.    Stereotype™  and  Printers. 


ET 


TO 

EVERY  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

IN   OUR  COUNTRY, 

WHERE   HONOR,    WEALTH,    AND    HAPPINESS    DEPEND   ON    HIS   OWN 
INTEGRITY,   HONESTY,   AND  ECONOMY, 

AND    WHERE 

EVERY  ONE  MAY  ATTAIN  TO  THE  HIGHEST  HONOR  OF  THE  NATION, 

Cfjts  ILtft  anU  Carter 

OF  A  SELF-MADE,   INDUSTRIOUS,   ECONOMICAL,   AND 

HONEST    MAN 
IS    RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATED 

BV 

THE  AUTHOR. 


PEEFACB. 


GRACE  GREELEY  has  bad  nothing  to  do  with  getting 
_l I_  up,  writing,  or  publishing  this  book.  He  has  neither  writ- 
ten nor  seen  a  sentence  of  it  in  its  original  manuscript,  nor  in  the 
proof-sheets,  nor  in  any  other  way.  He  knows  nothing  about 
what  it  contains,  and  therefore  is  in  no  way  or  manner  responsi- 
ble for  its  statements. 

Ihe  public  has  a  right  to  know  all  that  can  be  known  of  any 
public  man,  and  especially  of  any  one  who  is  presented  for  their 
suffrage.  It  is  for  this  purpose,  to  give  this  information  (now 
that  Mr.  Greeley  has  been  nominated  for  the  highest  office  in  the 
gift  of  this  great  nation),  that  the  following  facts  and  incidents  of 
his  life  are  here  presented.  They  have  been  gathered  from  the 
most  authentic  and  reliable  sources,  and  speak  for  themselves. 
They  show  the  man  as  he  has  been,  when  a  poor  boy,  an  appren- 
tice, a  journeyman,  an  editor,  a  public  man,  — just  what  he  was 
in  all  the  positions  he  has  held  before  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  presidency.  This  is  all  the  writer  has  desired  or  designed  to 
do,  —  to  show  the  people  just  who  Horace  Greeley  is,  what  he  has 
been,  and  what  he  has  done.  Having  done  this,  according  to  the 
ability  given  the  writer,  he  leaves  him  and  his  doings  in  the 
hands  of  an  appreciating  public. 

1*  5 


6  PREFACE. 

The  compiler  here,  once  for  all,  acknowledges  his  indebtedness 
to  Mr.  Greeley's  "  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,"  from  his  own 
pen,  published  first  in  "  The  New- York  Ledger  "  from  time  to 
time,  and  also  in  a  book  by  J.  B.  Ford  &  Co. ;  also  to  "  The  Life 
of  Mr.  Greeley  "  by  Mr.  James  Parton,  published  by  James  R. 
Osgood  &  Co.  of  Boston. 


INTRODUCTION. 


USE    OF    BIOGRAPHY. 

~T)IOGRAPHICAL  sketches  of  great  and  good  men  have 
„  I  J  always  been  useful  in  the  world.  Indeed,  no  class  of  writ- 
ings have  had  such  vast  influence  in  forming  the  character  of  the 
young,  either  for  weal  or  woe,  as  these.  Conquerors  have  been 
made  by  reading  the  lives  of  conquerors  that  have  preceded 
them ;  heroes,  by  reading  of  heroes ;  and  martyrs,  clergymen, 
eminent  business-men,  and  persons  in  all  professions,  have  been 
inspired  with  that  supreme  devotion  and  energy  to  an  object  that 
has  enabled  them  to  overcome  all  obstacles,  and  achieve  the 
same  as,  or  even  more  than,  those  after  whom  they  patterned. 

Thus  presidents  of  the  United  States  have  already  beeti 
elevated  to  that  high  position  by  letting  the  people  know  who 
they  were,  what  they  had  done,  and  their  capacity  for  such  an 
office.  la  this  way  our  excellent  Lincoln  and  our  General  Grant 
were  ushered  into  a  more  elevated  position  than  that  of  kings, 
because  borne  thither  by  a  free  and  enlightened  people. 

The  Creator,  the  Fountain  of  all  good,  seems  to  have  acted 
upon  this  principle  in  giving  us  the  Bible ;  in  which  he  has  set 
before  us,  for  our  imitation,  the  character  of  Abraham,  Moses, 
David,  Daniel,  and  many  other  holy  men  among  the  Old-Testa- 

7 


8  ENTBODTJCTION. 

ment  worthies.  And  we  know  indeed,  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, that  the  grand  object  had  in  view  by  the  Holy  One,  in 
portraying  their  characters,  was  for  our  imitation.  Hence  we  are 
expressly  told,  "Whatsoever  things*  were  written  aforetime  were 
written  for  our  learning,  that  we  through  patience,  and  comfort  of 
the  scriptures,  might  have  hope."  Hence  the  writer  to  the  He- 
brews brings  before  us  that  host  of  "  worthies,"  till  the  number 
seems  to  swell  beyond  his  powers  of  description ;  and  he  exclaims, 
"  And  what  shall  I  more  say  ?  for  the  time  would  fail."  All  these 
were  named,  with  their  heroic  deeds,  for  what  ?  —  "  Seeing  we 
also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let 
us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us."  In  other 
words,  seeing,  knowing,  what  others  have  done,  taking  them  as  our 
examples,  let  us  discharge  our  duty  as  .they  did;  let  us  "press 
toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling."  Deeply 
imbued  with  this  principle  of  rising,  of  coming  up  to  the  highest 
round  of  the  ladder  of  human  perfectibility,  Dr.  Young  said,  — 

"  All  can  do  what  has  by  man  been  done." 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE    SCOTCH-IRISH. 

PAGE. 

Their  Peculiarities.  —  Londonderry  settled  by  Them.  —  Their  Industry. — 
Their  Diet.  —  Anecdotes  of  their  .Ministers.  —  The  New-England  Meet- 
iug-ilouses .13 


CHAPTER    II. 
PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

The  Name  Greeley.  —  His  Ancestors. — The  Woodburn  Family.  —  Horace 
supposed  to  be  Dead.  —  An  Early  Reader.  —  His  First  School.  —  New- 
England  Schoolhouses  then.  —  School-Books. —  Hid  First  Piece.  —  Al- 
ways did  his  "  Stint." — No  Sportsman 23 

CHAPTER  III. 
HORACE  REMOVES  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

Horace's  Father  loses  his  Property.  —  The  Old  Greek  Law.  —  Great  Sacri- 
fice.—  Moves  to  West  Haven,  Vt.  —  Horace's  Dress.  — At  School  he  aids 
the  Other  Scholars.  —  A  Checker-Player.  —  He  scours  the  Country  for 
Books.  —  Visits  his  Friends  in  Londonderry.  —  Taken  for  an  Idiot.  —  His 
Teetotalism.  —  He  begins  to  be  a  Politician.  —  His  Description  of  it  later 
in  Life 88" 

CHAPTER  IV. 
HORACE  BECOMES  AN  APPRENTICE. 

Horace  visits  Poultnpy.  —  His  Description  by  Mr.  Bliss.  — He  Is  a  Match 
for  the  School-committee  Man.  —  lie  is  employed.  —  What  the  Other 
Printers  in  the  Office  think  of  him.  — Horace  in  the  Lyceum. —He 
boards  at  the  Tavern,  but  won't  driuk.  —  What  a  New-York  Physician 
said  of  him.  —  Anti-Masonry  of  that  Time 62 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
HORACE  TRAVELS,  AND   ARRIVES   IN  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  Greeley  moves  to  Pennsylvania.  —  He  leaves  Vermont. —  Visits  his 
Father's  Log-Cabin.  —  Visits  Jamestown  for  Work.  —  Next  goes  to 
Erie  — His  Amusing  Reception.  —  Goes  to  Work.  —  A  Lady's  Opinion 
of  him.  —  He  leaves  Erie.  — His  Arrival  in  New  York.  —  His  finding  a 
Boarding-House. — Gets  into  an  Office.  —  Mr.  West's  Opinion  of  him. — 
His  Success  as  a  Typo.  —  Works  on  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Times."  —  Visits 
New  Hampshire. — A  Good  Dinner 61 

CHAPTER   VI. 
GREELEY  COMMENCES  BUSINESS. 

Horace  in  the  "Watch-House." — Greeley  driven  to  New  York. —  "The 
Morning  Post"  fails. — He  appeals  in  Vain  to  his  Subscribers  to  pay. 

—  His  Honesty   and  Integrity. —  His  Editorial   Luxuries.  — Interview 
with  the  Wrathy  Quack.  —  Horace's  Poetry.  —  "The  New-Yorker." — 
"  The  Jeffersonian." —  "The  Log-Cabin."  —  His  Marriage.  —  His  Wed- 
ding-Tour.— He  cuts  up  Fashions  and  Opinions. — His  Activity  in  the 
Campaign  of  1840.— He  asked  for  no  Office 74 

CHAPTER  VII. 
HORACE  GREELEY'S  TEMPERANCE. 

Horace  will  not  drink. — Aids  in  forming  a  Temperance  Society.  —  His 
Opinion  of  Cider-Guzzling.  —  Liquor  used  by  Everybody.  —  Why  Cities 
always  go  for  Liquor-Selling.  —  The  Man  in  whom  an  Iceberg  formed. 

—  Horace  foreshadows  a  Prohibitory  Law.  —  Sylvester  Graham.  —  Died 
of  Chagrin.  —  Mr.  Greeley 's  Grahamism.  —  Finds  his  Wife  at  the  Graham 
Boarding-House.  —  On  the  Whole,  he  thinks  favorably  of  eating  more 
Fruit,  and  less  Meat 104 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
MR.  GREELEY  AND  "THE  TRIBUNE." 

Mr.  Greeley  had  tried  his  Fortune  with  Several  Journals.  —  He  starts  "  The 
Tribune"  Alone.  —  Takes  a  Partner. —  Their  Adaptedness  to  Each 
Other.  —  "The  Tribune"  a  Success.  —  "Fanny  Fern's"  Adventure  to 
get  a  Copy.  —  "The  Tribune"  a  Whig  Paper. — It  attacks  the  New- 
York  City  Government;  also  the  Theatre-Goers.  —  Is  pounced  upon  by 
the  Other  Paper*  — Mr.  Greeley  justifies  his  Course  towards  John 
Tyler. — He  tells  what  he  wanted  "The Tribune"  to  be  from  the  first. — 
How  Candidates  for  Public  Favor  are  used 118 


CHAPTER    IX. 
"THE  TRIBUNE"  CONTINUED. 

'The  Tribune"  changed  to  a  Two-cent  Paper.— A  Mob  in  New  York.— 
Mr.  Grceley's  First  Visit  to  Washington.  — His  Letter  from  Mount  Ver- 
non.  —  From  Saratoga.  —  Margaret  Fuller  and  Mr.  Greeley.  —  Mr.  Gree- 
ley's  Opinion  of  John  Tyler.  — Burning  of  "The  Tribune"  Building.— 
Mr.  Greeley'd  Description  of  it  afterwards 133 


CONTENTS.  11 

CHAPTER  X. 
MR.  GREELEY  IN  POLITICS. 

Mr.  Greeley  a  Politician  from  his  Youth —  A  Great  Friend  of  the  United- 
States  Bank. — A  Friend  of  William  H.  Seward. —  Opposed  to  Gen. 
Jackson.  —  Greeley  in  the  Harrison  Campaign.  —  Deep  in  Politics  .  .  148 

CHAPTER   XI. 
MR.  GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS. 

Elected  to  Congress.  —  Attacks  the  Mileage  Fraud.  —  Mr.  Greeley  accused 
of  Inconsistency.  —  His  Explanation.  —  His  Reports  to  "The  Tribune" 
attacked.  —  He  introduces  the  Mileage  BilK  —  Sticks  to  his  Opinion  of 
Gen.  Taylor's  Nomination.  —  AddreuH  16  hfs  Constituents.  —  Our  Object 
not  to  extol  him,  but  to  tell  what  he  has  done.  — Quotation  from  Mr. 
Greeley's  Whig  Almanac.  —  His  Effort  to  save  Money. — Mr.  Turner's 
Resolutions.  —  Mr.  Greeley's  Reply.  —  Mr.  Greeley  not  a  Dead-Head. 

—  Facetious  Discussion  on  the  Mileage  Question.  — Second  Address  to 

his  Constituents 164 

CHAPTER   XII. 
MR.  GREELEY  AND  HIS  BEGGARS  AND  BORROWERS. 

New  York  and  Beggars.  —  A  Few  of  the  Sufferers.  —  Bfgging  for  Churches. 

—  Chronic  Beggars.  —  Borrowers.  —  Not  to  injure  the  Needy.  —  A  Case 
stated.  —  Borrowers  of  Strangers  never  pay.  —  A  Beggar's  Letter. — 
Church-Members  Begging  or  Borrowing.  —  Associations  can  deal  with 
Beggars  better  than  Individuals  can.  —  Does  not  condemn  Borrowing 
wholly.  — A  Duty  to  lend  sometimes.  —  Remarks       .....    198 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
MR.  GREELEY  AND  SPIRITUALISM. 

Mr.  Greeley  discussed  Many  Subjects.  —  The  Rochester  Rappings.  —  He 
didn't  desire  a  Second  Sitting.  —  Interview  with  Jenny  Lind. —  Seance 
at  Mr.  Greeley's  House. —  He  witnesses  a  Juggle  or  Trick.  —  He  deals 
with  the  Trick.  —  He  thinks  the  Devil  would  not  be  engaged  in  such 
Business. — Found  he  could  spend  his  Time  more  Profitably. — Thinks 
we  had  better  do  our  Duty  to  the  Living — Thinks  Great  Men  wrote 
Better  while  living  than  since  they  died. —  Their  Communications 
Vague  and  Trivial.  —  Spirits  proved  to  be  Ignorant. — The  Great  Body 
of  Spiritualists  made  Worse  by  it.  — Spiritualists  are  Bigots  .  .  .212 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
LIBELS  AND  LIBEL-SUITS. 

These  Suits  Numerous.  —  J.  Fenlmore  Cooper's  Character  valued  at  Two 
Hundred  Dollars.  —  His  Nephew  and  himself  the  Lawyers.  —  Horace  his 
own  Lawyer.  —  Horace  not  allowed  to  plead  his  own  Case  and  to  have 
Counsel;  but  Cooper  is  allowed  to.  — Injustice  and  Absurdity  of  the 


12 


CONTENTS. 


Law  of  Libel  in  the  State  of  New  York.  — The  Whig  Editors  only 
prosecuted.  —  Editors  do  not  claim  Immunity  to  Libels.  —  Mr  Greelcy's 
Logic.  —  Rase  Fellows.  —  New- York  Laws  Worse  than  English.  The 
Greater  the  Truth  stated,  the  Greater  the  Libel.  —  Mr.  Greeley  did 
Much  for  the  Press  in  this  Case.  —  Wonderful  Rapidity  of  Writing. — 
The  Judge's  Charge  Worse  than  Cooper's  Plea.  —  Mr.  Greeley  gives  a 
most  Humorous  Turn  to  this  Whole  Libel-Business.  —  His  Defence  re- 
sulted in  Good 226 


CHAPTER    XV. 
MB.  GREELEY'S  VISITS  TO  EUROPE. 

His  First  Visit  in  1851.— At  the  World's  Fair  of  that  Year,  he  is  made 
Chairman  of  one  of  the  Juries.  He  delivers  the  Address  to  the  Con- 
structor of  the  Palace. —  His  Second  Visit  to  the  Old  World.  — He  is 
arrested  in  Paris  for  Debt,  and  imprisoned 260 

CHAPTER   XVI. 
HORACE  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS. 

Mr.  Greeley's  Views  of  Working-Men.  —  Mr.  Greeley  as  a  Lecturer.  —  Mr. 
Greeley  an  Author.  —  The  Work  published  — Addresses  and  Essays. — 
All  for  the  Working- Men.—  Mr.  Greeley  as  a  Man  of  Letters.—  The 
Great  Trees  of  Mariposa.  —  His  Honesty. — '•  The  Tribune"  an  Educa- 
tor.—  An  Editor  to  speak  reproachfully  of  Horace  Greeley  —  what  is 
he?— What  Whiitior.  the  Quaker  Poet,  said.  — How  much  it  implies.  — 
"  He  who  would  t-trike  Horace  Greeley  would  strike  his  Mother."  —  Tes- 
timony of  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows;  of  W.  E.  Robinson ;  of  the  Poet  Whittier. 
—  Remarks  on  Mr.  Greeley  s  Letter  of  Acceptance  of  the  Cincinnati 
Nomination.  —  On  his  Dress.  —  Of  his  Inconsistency.  —  Proposal  to  buy 
the  Slaves.  —  Signine  Jeff.  Davis's  Bail.  —  Comparison  between  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  and  Horace  Greeley  in  their  Childhood  and  Youth:  both 
Poor;  both  Readers;  both  loved  by  their  Fellows;  both  excelled  their 
Teachers 268 


SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  B.  GRATZ  BROWN       ....    307 


LIFE  OF  HOEACE  GEEELEY. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE   SCOTCH-IRISH. 

Their  Peculiarities.  —  Londonderry  settled  by  Them.  —  Their  Industry. — 
Their  Diet.  —  Anecdotes  of  their  ^Jinbters.  —  The  New-England  Meet- 
ing- Houses. 

rTlHESE  have  ever  been,  and  still  are,  "  a  peculiar 
J-  people."  Those  who  early  settled  New  Hamp- 
shire, where  Horace  Greeley  was  born,  were  of  this 
peculiar  cast.  They  came  from  Ulster,  in  the 
northern  part  of  Ireland  (from  which  a  very  large 
number  of  our  eminent  men  and  "  merchant  princes  " 
have  come).  They  were  of  that  blood  which  will  tell 
wherever  it  is  fovmd.  One  of  the  six  counties  of  this 
northern  province  of  the  "  Emerald  Isle  "  was  London- 
derry. The  inhabitants  were  intensely  Protestant, 
and  generally  Presbyterian.  They  were  brave  men  ; 
and,  when  that  city  was  besieged,  they  defended  it 
against  a  bssieging  army  till  they  slew  nine  thousand 

2  13 


14  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

of  them,  until  three  thousand  of  their  own  number 
had  fallen,  till  they  were  reduced  to  such  a  state  of 
starvation  that  a  quarter  of  a  dog  was  sold  for  five 
shillings  and  sixpence,  and  till  horse-flesh  brought 
one  and  sixpence  a  pound,  a  rat  one  shilling,  and  a 
mouse  sixpence.  Still  they  would  not  and  did  not 
surrender.  May  it  not  have  been  well  said,  then, 
that  Presbyterians  are  a  set  and  stiff  people  ?  Every 
one  knows  what  they  are  on  the  Scotch  side,  which 
makes  half  of  their  name :  "  for  it  behooveth  a  Scots- 
man to  be  right ;  for,  if  he  be  wrong,  he  is  forever  and 
eternally  wrong." 

It  was  by  this  class  of  people  that  London- 
derry, N.H.,  was  chiefly  settled.  The  first  of  these 
emigrants  came  in  1718  ;  and  a  few  of  them  stopped 
for  a  time  in  Boston,  and  founded  the  church  to 
which  Rev.  Dr.  Channing  and  the  late  Dr.  Gannett 
preached,  and  for  which  Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie,  of  similar 
blood,  has  long  been  contending.  But  the  greater 
part  of  them  went  directly  to  Londonderry,  and  to 
other  towns  in  Rockingham  County,  N.H. ;  and  the 
others  from  Boston  soon  followed  them. 

There  they  lived  as  brethren  and  neighbors,  —  an 
industrious,  hard-working  people,  willing  to  earn  their 
living,  and  carrying  out  the  declaration  of  the  Bible 
(which  was  about  all  the  book  they  had),  —  "  If  any 
would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat." 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH.  15 

Their  industry  was  so  remarkable,  that  they  brought 
their  spinning  and  weaving  implements  with  them 
from  their  native  land.  They  raised  much  flax,  and 
made  the  first  linen  ever  manufactured  in  New  Eng- 
land. 

Though  the  potato  was  of  American  origin,  yet  it 
was  never  cultivated  to  any  considerable  extent  here 
till  this  colony  did  it ;  and  it  has  ever  been  a  current 
report,  that  a  farmer  in  the  vicinity  of  Londonderry 
attempted  to  boil  and  eat  the  balls  from  the  potato- 
tops,  instead  of  the  potato  itself,  but,  upon  making 
the  trial,  declared  them  to  be  worthless.  This  well- 
authenticated  item  makes  a  good  offset  to  the  farmer 
who  boiled  the  tea  for  greens,  and  also  declared  it 
"  of  no  value." 

They  were  so  frugal  and  economical,  that  they  used 
to  walk  barefooted,  carrying  their  shoes  and  stockings 
in  their  hands  till  coming  near  the  church  or  to 
where  they  were  bound,  when  they  put  them  on  ;  and 
one  old  bachelor  was  said  to  be  so  neat,  that  when  he 
arrived  at  the  "  meeting-house,  if  his  shoes  were 
dusty,  he  wiped  them  with  his  white  pocket-handker- 
chief." 

They  did  not  use  tea  or  coffee  till  about  the  year 
1800.  Borrowing  and  lending  were  very  common 
among  them  ;  though  buying  and  selling  were  almost 
unknown.  If  they  killed  a  calf  or  a  pig,  it  was 


16  LIFE   OF  HORACE   GKEELEY. 

usually  lent  out  to  the  neighbors,  to  be  repaid  when 
they  did  a  like  deed.  Women  did  their  full  share  of 
the  work  both  in  the  house  and  on  the  farm.  They 
were  a  strong,  long-lived  race,  and  generally  reared 
large  families. 

Though  they  were,  as  we  have  stated,  a  rigid  race 
of  religious  men  and  women,  yet  they  were  full  of 
glee  and  mirth  ;  and  though  they  always  read  the 
Bible  morning  and  evening  with  family  prayer,  and 
though  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism 
was  their  solemn  creed,  which  all  their  children  were 
compelled  to  learn,  yet  no  people  were  ever  more  full 
of  fun  than  these  stiff  Presbyterians. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Morrison  —  a  Presbyterian  name 
among  them  to  this  day,  and  one  of  their  lineal 
descendants  —  says,  "  A  prominent  trait  in  the 
character  of  the  Scotch-Irish  was  their  wit.  No 
subject  was  kept  sacred  from  it.  The  thoughtless, 
the  grave,  the  old,  and  the  young,  alike  enjoyed  it. 
Our  fathers  were  serious,  thoughtful  men  ;  but  they 
lost  no  occasion  that  might  promise  sport.  Weddings, 
huskings,  log-rollings,  and  raisings,  —  what  a  host  of 
queer  stories  is  connected  with  them !  Our  ancestors 
dearly  loved  fun.  There  was  a  grotesque  humor,  and 
yet  a  seriousness,  pathos,  and  strangeness,  about  them, 
which,  in  its  way,  has,  perhaps,  never  been  equalled. 
It  was  the  sternness  of  the  Scotch  covenanter,  softened 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH.  17 

bj  a  century's  residence  abroad  amid  persecution  and 
tria1.,  wedded  to  the  comic  humor  and  pathos  of  the 
Irish,  and  then  grown  wild  in  the  woods  among  their 
own  New-England  mountains." 

Many  quaint  anecdotes  are  told  of  their  clergy, 
while  they  were  the  strictest  sect  of  religionists  in  the 
world.  Thus  it  is  related  that  a  British  officer,  during 
the  "  old  French  war,"  one  Sunday  morning  entered 
the  meeting-house  in  Londonderry  in  such  a  shining 
uniform,  that  he  attracted  the  attention  of  the  young 
misses,  standing  as  he  did  in  a  conspicuous  place,  far 
more  than  the  solemn  sermon  of  the  good  old  parson, 
Rev.  Matthew  Clark.  The  old  man  bore  it  as  long  as 
he  could ;  but  perceiving  that  he  was  not  inclined  to 
be. seated,  and  that  so  much  attention  was  given  to  his 
superb  dress,  at  length  he  stopped,  laid  by  his  sermon, 
and,  addressing  the  officer,  said,  "  Ye're  a  braw 
(brave)  lad ;  ye  hae  a  braw  suit  of  claithes,  and  we 
hae  a'  seen  them :  ye  may  sit  down."  As  though 
suddenly  shot,  the  officer  dropped  into  a  seat. 

Rev.  E.  L.  Parker,  in  his  history  of  Londonderry, 
gives  the  following  specimen  of  William  Clark's 
pulpit  peculiarities.  His  subject  was  Peter's  assur- 
ance that  he  would  not  deny  his  Master.  "  Just  like 
Peter,  aye  mair  forrit  (forward)  than  wise,  ganging 
swaggering  aboot  wi'  a  sword  at  his  side :  an'  a  puir 
han'  he  mad'  o'  it  when  he  cam'  to  the  trial ;  for  he 
a* 


18  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

only  cut  off  un  duel's  lug  (car),  em'  he  ought  to  has 
split  down  his  head." 

We  are  told  (we  have  referred  to  their  strictness 
in  family  religion)  that  the  first  minister  of  London- 
derry, upon  hearing  that  one  of  his  flock  was  neg- 
lecting family  worship,  repaired  to  his  dwelling  the 
same  evening  that  he  learned  the  sad  news.  It  was 
late,  and  the  family  had  retired :  but  he  roused  up 
the  head  of  the  family ;  asked  him  if  the  report  he 
had  heard  was  true,  and  if  he  had  omitted  family 
prayer  that  evening.  The  man  said  he  had.  Then 
he  made  him  call  up  his  wife  and  perform  with  her 
the  neglected  duty  before  he  would  leave  the  house. 

They  were  a  singularly  honest  people  ;  and  this  may 
in  some  measure  account  for  the  fact,  that  now,  while 
the  opponents  say  all  manner  of  cruel  things  about 
Horace  Greeley,  they  all  say  he  is  honest.  They  had  a 
law,  if  a  man  found  any  thing  on  the  road,  he  should 
leave  it  at  the  next  tavern.  In  1774,  one  John  Mor- 
rison found  an  axe,  and  did  not  leave  it  at  the  next 
tavern,  nor  make  proclamation,  as  the  law  directed. 
The  session  convicted  him ;  though  John  contended 
that  the  axe  was  of  so  small  value,  that  it  would  not 
pay  the  expense  of  proclaiming,  &c.  So  he  stands 
there  recorded  on  the  town-record  of  1774. 

A  volume  might  be  filled  with  the  singular  anec- 
dotes of  this  "  peculiar  people  ; "  but  it  is  not  required 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH.  19 

for  our  present  purpose.  We  add  simply  a  sketch  of 
the  old,  uncouth  churches  of  New  England  such  as 
Horace  Greeley  was  compelled  to  attend  in  his  child- 
hood :  of  these  New  Hampshire  had  its  full  share  :  — 

"  Of  these  we  have  a  distinct  recollection :  we 
mean  those  erected  by  the  Puritans  and  their  Presby- 
terian brethren.  They  were  queer,  uncouth  things, 
having  the  large  door  in  the  side,  and  one  at  each  end 
for  ingress  and  egress.  The  aisles  were  wide ;  the 
pews  high,  nearly  square,  with  a  seat  on  every  side, 
and  a  low  one  for  the  small  children  ;  a  table  for  the 
man,  then  the  head  of  the  family,  upon  which  to  lay 
his  psalm-book.  The  consequence  was,  that  a  part  of 
the  audience  had  to  sit  with  their  backs  to  the  minis- 
ter ;  and,  when  the  psalm-singing  ceased,  there  was  a 
clattering  of  letting  down  tables  like  the  slamming 
of  fifty  doors.  A  gallery  all  round  the  inside  of  the 
house  accommodated  the  boys  and  girls  with  a  con- 
venient resting-place,  where  they  could  whittle,  whis- 
per, pull  each  other's  ears  or  hair,  or  behave  decently, 
as  they  preferred  ;  but  when  Deacon  S.,  the  ti thing- 
man,  was  in  his  place,  most  of  them  did  the  latter, 
lest  they  should  get  a  switch  from  his  birch. 

"  These  '  meeting-houses  '  had  an  abundance  of 
windows,  tier  above  tier,  to  let  in  the  light  of  heaven 
unstained;  for  blinds,  curtains,  and  'painted  glass,' 
were  then  among  the  things  that  were  not :  all  this 


20  LIFE   OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

showing  manifestly  that  the  worshippers  '  loved  light 
rather  than  darkness.' 

"  There  was  no  provision  made  for  warming  these 
houses,  save  only  as  some  old  ladies  carried  foot- 
stoves,  made  of  tin,  and  hooped  round  with  wood, 
with  a  tin  dish  or  saucer  to  hold  live  coals  of  hickory 
or  oak  (for  good  wood  was  then  plenty)  ;  and  these 
good  old  dames  thus  warmed  their  feet  and  those  of 
the  small  children  by  placing  them  over  these  tin 
boxes,  which  had  holes  in  their  tops  through  which  the 
heat  ascended.  Stoves  then,  for  burning  Lehigh  and 
Lackawana,  were  not :  indeed,  these  very  heat-pro- 
ducing articles  themselves  had  never  been  heard  of. 
But  the  people  were  healthy ;  and  though  cold,  and 
often  chilled,  we  heard  of  but  few  cases  of  bronchitis 
or  throat-diseases  as  at  present. 

"  When  a  lad,  we  have  sat  with  our  feet  almost 
frozen,  watching  the  old  minister,  who  had  officiated 
in  the  same  desk  forty  years,  as  he  turned  over  leaf 
after  leaf  of  his  manuscript,  hoping  (often  almost 
against  hope)  that  each  would  be  the  last.  But  what 
seems  remarkable  to  us  at  the  present  time  is,  that  no 
one  staid  away  from  the  meeting  (the  name  of  church 
was  then  unknown,  only  as  referring  to  the  body  of 
professors)  on  account  of  the  cold ;  and  none  were 
made  sick  by  sitting  two  hours  in  a  house  built  of 
wood,  and  not  very  tight,  with  the  temperature  (if  we 


THE   SCOTCH-IEISH.  21 

had  possessed  any  thing  to  have  measured  it  with ; 
which  we  did  not,  thermometers  then  being  unknown, 
or  at  least  unused  in  the  country)  ten  or  twenty 
degrees  below  zero.  There  was  not  half  the  consump- 
tion then  that  there  is  now.  May  it  not  be  justly  in- 
ferred, if  we  heated  our  churches  now,  and  our  dwell- 
ings too,  as  we  did  then,  that  consumption  would  be 
diminished  one-half?  Our  present  mode  of  heating 
must  be  changed. 

"  We  could  give  some  curious  anecdotes  of  the  wars 
of  those  days  —  like  those  between  the  '  red  and  the 
white  roses  '  —  which  prevailed  between  deacons, 
deacons'  wives,  and  '  men  of  standing,'  in  families, 
when  the  question  of  putting  in  stoves  came  to  be 
discussed.  Then  those  terrible  '  tempests  in  tea- 
pots,' as  well  as  among  tea  and  spirit  drinkers  ;  for  all 
ministers,  deacons,  and  others  drank  spirit  in  those 
days,  and  all  women  (whose  husbands  could  afford  it) 
drank  tea.  We  remember  one  case  where  Mrs.  Dea- 
con S.  had  fought  against  a  stove,  and  Mrs.  Deacon 
B.  for  one ;  till  finally,  when  Mrs.  Deacon  B.'s  party 
prevailed,  Mrs.  Deacon  S.  was  carried  out  faint,  and, 
when  she  recovered,  said  that  it  was  that  terribly  hot 
stove  that  caused  it ;  but,  though  the  stove  was  there, 
no  fire  had  been  made  in  it. 

"The  Old  South  Church  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Put- 
nam's, we  believe,  are  the  only  houses  of  worship,  built 


22  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

after  that  antique  fashion,  now  left.  The  Brattle- 
square  and  the  Stone  Chapel  approximate  that 
form ;  and  how  they  came  to  escape  a  perfect  simi- 
larity to  them,  built  in  the  same  age,  is  more  than 
we  can  tell.  Thus  nearly  all  these  old  edifices  have 
disappeared  from  New  England ;  and  others,  many  of 
which  are  no  improvement  upon  their  predecessors, 
have  taken  their  places." 

It  was  in  one  of  these  "  unsteepled  houses,"  as 
William  Penn  called  his  "  Quaker  churches,"  that 
the  ancestors  of  Horace  Greeley  heard  the  first  pastor 
of  Londonderry — Rev.  James  McGregor — preach, 
and  say  the  curious  things  above  cited ;  and  also  the 
following :  "  '  I  can  do  all  things.'  Ay,  can  ye,  Paul  ? 
I'll  bet  ye  a  dollar  o'  that "  (placing  the  dollar  on  the 
desk).  "  But  stop:  let's  see  what  else  Paul  says:  '  I 
can  do  all  tilings  through  Christ  that  strengthened 
me.'  Ay,  sae  can  I,  Paul :  I  draw  my  bet."  And  he 
returned  the  dollar  to  his  pocket. 


CHAPTER   II. 

PARENTAGE,   BIRTH,   AND   CHILDHOOD. 

The  Name  Greeley.  —  His  Ancestors.  —  The  Woodburn  Family.  —  Horace 
supposed  to  be  Dead.  —  An  Early  Reader.  —  His  First  School.  —  New- 
England  Schoolhouses  then.  —  School-Books.  —  His  First  Piece.  —  Al- 
ways did  his  "  Stiiit."  —  No  Sportsman. 

AS  was  the  case  with  nearly  all  who  emigrated 
to  New  England  in  those  early  days,  so  it  was 
with  the  ancestors  of  Horace  Greeley,  —  "three  broth- 
ers "  first  came  over.  The  name  has  been  variously 
spelled,  like  many  others,  —  sometimes  Greeley,  then 
Greely,  Greale,  Greele ;  but  they  seem  to  have  all 
sprung  from  the  same  stock.  One  of  these  brothers 
is  said  to  have  settled  in  Maine,  another  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  the  other  in  Massachusetts.  Horace 
Greeley  descended  from  the  one  who  settled  in 
Massachusetts.  His  name  is  said  to  have  been  Benja- 
min, and  that  he  resided  in  Haverhill ;  was  a  farmer  ; 
and  died  at  a  good  old  age,  much  respected.  He  left 
a  son  named  Ezekiel,  who  was  a  prosperous  man,  and 
went  by  the  name  of  "  Old  Captain  Ezekiel."  He 

23 


24  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

lived  in  Hudson,  N.H.  He  was  a  stern-looking  old 
fellow,  dark  as  an  Indian,  and  somewhat  like  one  in 
temper.  He  never  loved  work,  and  never  did  much, 
but  lived  by  his  wits ;  and  it  is  said  "  he  got  all  he 
could,  and  saved  all  he  got."  He  was  a  Baptist, 
and  a  very  "  hard-shelled  "  one,  we  judge  ;  for  he  was 
called  "  a  cross  old  dog,"  "  a  hard  old  knot,"  and  yet 
was  praised  because  he  was  rich  and  smart. 

This  Benjamin  was  the  father  of  Zaccheus  Greeley : 

and 

"  The  boy  had  virtue  by  his  mother's  side ; " 

though  he,  like  his  father,  was  not  "  too  fond  of 
work."  He  was  famous  for  his  knowledge  of  the 
Bible,  and  was  a  kind  man,  of  gentle  demeanor,  and, 
though  not  as  rich  as  his  father,  was  called  "  fore- 
handed" in  the  world.  Though  his  father  was  what 
we  have  seen,  yet  his  son  lived  to  be  ninety-five  ;  and 
the  testimony  of  his  neighbors  was,  "  A  worthier  man 
than  Zaccheus  Greeley  never  lived."  He  also  had  a 
son  named  Zaccheus,  who  was  the  father  of  Horace 
Greeley. 

Horace  Greeley,  in  his  "  Recollections  of  a  Busy 
Life,"  says,  "  My  grandfather  Greeley  was  a  most 
excellent,  though  never  a  thrifty  citizen.  Kind,  mild, 
easy-going,  honest,  and  unambitious,  he  married 
young,  and  reared  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  — 
nine  sons  and  four  daughters. 


PARENTAGE,   BIRTH,   AND   CHILDHOOD*  25 

"  My  own  great-grandfather  (named  Zaccheus,  as 
was  his  son  my  grandfather,  and  his  son  my  father) 
lived  in  or  near  the  verge  of  Londonderry,  in  what 
was  in  my  youth  Nottingham  West,  and  is  now 
Hudson,  across  the  Merrimack. 

"  I  never  heard  of  a  Woodburn  of  our  stock  who 
was  not  a  farmer.  My  father  —  married  at  twenty-five 
to  Mary  Woodburn,  aged  nineteen  —  went  first  to 
live  with  his  father,  whose  farm  he  was  to  work  and 
inherit,  supporting  the  old  folks  and  their  still  nu- 
merous minor  children ;  but  he  soon  tired  of  this, 
and  seceded,  migrating  to  and  purchasing  the  farm 
whereon  six  of  his  seven  children  were  born." 

Mr.  Greeley  adds  (and  this  was  published  in  1869), 
"  The  present  township  of  Londonderry  embraces  but 
a  fraction  of  the  original  town,  whose  hundred  and 
forty-four  square  miles  have-  been  sliced  away  to 
form  the  several  townships  of  Derry,  Windham,  and 
parts  of  others,  until  it  now  probably  contains  less 
than  forty  square  miles.  Its  people  nearly  all  live  by 
farming,  and  own  the  land  they  cultivate.  Three- 
fourths  of  them  were  born  where  they  live,  and 
there  expect  to  die.  Some  families  of  English  linkage 
have  gradually  taken  root  among  them  ;  but  they  are 
still  mainly  of  the  original  Scotch-Irish  stock,  and 
even  Celtic  or  German  "  help  "  is  scarcely  known  to 
them.  Simple,  moral,  diligent,  God-fearing,  the  vices 


26  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

of  modern  civilization  have  scarcely  penetrated  their 
quiet  homes ;  and  while  those  who  with  pride  trace 
their  origin  to  the  old  settlement  are  numbered  by 
thousands,  and  scattered  all  over  our  broad  land,  I 
doubt  whether  the  present  population  of  London- 
derry exceeds  in  number  that  which  tilled  her  fields, 
and  hunted  through  her  woods,  fifty  or  sixty  years 
ago." 

The  Woodburn  family  also  came  from  London- 
derry :  so  that  Horace  was  Scotch-Irish  in  both  his 
paternal  and  maternal  descent,  "  as  Paul  was  a 
Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews."  He  has  borne  the  follow- 
ing testimony  to  his  great-grandmother  Woodburn  : 
"  I  think  I  am  indebted  for  my  first  impulse  toward 
intellectual  acquirement  and  exertion  to  my  mother's 
grandmother,  who  came  out  from  Ireland  among  the 
first  settlers  of  Londonderry.  She  must  have  been 
well  versed  in  Irish  and  Scotch  traditions,  pretty  well 
informed,  and  strong-minded  ;  and,  my  mother  being 
left  motherless  when  quite  young,  her  grandmother 
exerted  great  influence  over  her  mental  development. 
I  was  a  third  child,  the  two  preceding  having  died 
young ;  and  I  presume  my  mother  was  the  more 
attached  to  me  on  that  ground,  and  the  extreme 
feebleness  of  my  constitution.  My  mind  was  early 
filled  by  her  with  the  traditions,  ballads,  and  snatches 
of  history,  she  had  learned  from  her  grandmother, 


PARENTAGE,   BIRTH,   AND   CHILDHOOD.  27 

which,  though  conveying  very  distorted  and  incorrect 
ideas  of  history,  yet  served  to  awaken  in  me  a  thirst 
for  knowledge,  and  a  lively  interest  in  learning  and 
history." 

The  father  of  Horace  soon  became  tired  of  farming, 
as  we  have  before  stated,  and  removed  to  Amherst, 
N.IL,  and,  with  his  saved  earnings,  bought  a  farm. 
In  Amherst  Horace  Greeley  was  born  on  the  3d  of 
February,  1811.  Like  many  other  children  who  have 
become  eminent  men,  he  was  supposed  to  be  dead. 
He  did  not  breathe  ;  and  one  who  was  present  at  his 
birth  says,  "  He  was  as  black  as  a  chimney."  But  He 
who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning  had  work  for 
this  apparently  dead  child  to  do.  He  foresaw  "  The 
New- York  Tribune  "  to  come  from  him,  and  possibly 
the  presidency  of  the  United  States  to  come  to  him. 

Amherst,  the  birthplace  of  this  apparently  lifeless 
child,  is  a  beautiful  town  of  Hillsborough  County, 
N.H.,  just  across  the  line  from  Massachusetts.  In 
due  time  he  received  the  name  of  Horace,  after  a 
little  deceased  brother.  The  father  had  had  a  relative 
by  the  same  name  ;  and  the  mother  had  read  it  in  a 
book,  and  liked  it.  The  farm  owned  by  Zaccheus, 
the  father  of  Horace,  was  a  rock-bound  one,  of  the 
Granite  State  :  it  could  be  tilled  only  by  hard  toil. 

Horace  was  a  bright  boy,  and  took  readily  to  learn- 
ing. He  was  first  taught  by  his  mother.  She  was  a 


28  LIFE  OF  HORACE    GBEELET. 

strong,  athletic  woman,  of  great  activity  and  vivacity. 
She  could  laugh  and  sing  from  night  to  morning,  and 
from  morning  to  night.  Horace  listened  to  her 
stories  with  intense  delight.  He  says  in  his  "  Recol- 
lections," "  I  learned  to  read  at  her  knee  ;  of  course, 
longer  ago  than  I  can  remember:  but  I  can  faintly 
recollect  her  sitting  spinning  at  her  *  little  wheel,' 
with  the  book  in  her  lap  whence  I  was  taking  my 
daily  lesson  ;  and  thus  I  soon  acquired  the  facility  of 
reading  from  a  book  sidewise  or  upside-down  as 
readily  as  in  the  usual  fashion,  — a  knack  which  I  did 
not  at  first  suppose  peculiar,  but  which,  being  at  length 
observed,  became  a  subject  of  neighborhood  wonder 
and  fabulous  exaggeration." 

At  the  age  of  three  years  he  spent  his  first  winter 
at  his  grandfather  Woodburn's,  and  attended  his  first 
public  school ;  which,  indeed,  was  all  the  kind  of 
school  he  ever  attended. 

Two  peas  were  never  more  alike  than  the  New- 
England  country  schoolhouses  of  those  days ;  so  that 
the  following  description  applies  to  them,  one  and 
all:  — 

"  The  early  settlement  of  this  part  of  our  country 
is  well  known  to  have  been  Puritanical;  and  the 
Scotch-Irish  of  those  days  were  emphatically  so. 
They  early  took  measures  to  establish  '  free  schools,' 
that  '  learning  might  not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of 


PABENTAGE,   BERTH,   AND   CHILDHOOD.  29 

the  fathers.'  These  schools,  sixty  years  since,  were 
peculiar.  The  old  schoolhouse,  situated  in  a  corner 
of  the  town,  at  a  crossing  where  three  ways  met,  was 
fifteen  by  twenty  feet.  It  was  clapboarded  outside, 
and  plastered  inside.  The  windows  were  of  glass 
panes,  six  by  four  inches ;  the  chimney  in  one  end, 
large  enough  to  receive  a  cord-wood  stick  of  four 
feet  in  length,  affording  ample  ventilation  to  the  room ; 
the  benches,  three  in  number,  extending  the  length 
and  width  of  the  room  on  three  sides,  the  fourth 
occupied  by  the  capacious  chimney  just  named.  In 
front  of  these  writing-desks,  as  they  were  called,  were 
the  seats  for  the  small  children,  and  those  back  of 
them  for  the  larger  scholars.  The  fires  were  built 
alternately  by  the  larger  boys,  and  the  schoolhouse 
swept  by  the  larger  girls  in  the  same  ratio. 

"  The  seats  for  these  little  children  were  the  most 
uncomfortable  that  could  possibly  have  been  devised ; 
and,  after  stoves  were  introduced,  these  poor  children 
had  to  sit  so  near  them,  that  they  sweat  like  rain,  and 
their  hair  curled  in  every  direction. 

"  When  the  little  urchins  moved  in  front  of  the 
writing-desk  (as  they  generally  did),  the  whole  desk 
was  joggled,  so  that  the  writers  made  all  kinds  of 
characters.  The  window- shutters  were  of  rough 
boards,  resembling  those  of  more  modern  date  in 
Philadelphia ;  only  they  were  unplaued,  and  never 


30  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GBEELEY. 

painted.  The  door-step  was  an  unhewn  rock,  laid 
slanting,  so  as  to  carry  off  the  water  from  the  door, 
and,  when  icy,  to  trip  up  the  pupils.  The  outside  of 
the  building  was  never  painted  but  in  one  instance,  — 
iii  another  part  of  the  town ;  and  this  always  went  by 
the  name  of  the  red  sohoolhouse.  Our  schoolhouse 
was  better  situated  for  convenience  than  one  described 
by  another  about  these  times ;  for  there  were  houses 
around  it,  and  it  stood  in  the  little  plat  of  land 
belonging  to  nobody,  at  the  meeting  of  three  roads." 
This  writer  describes  his  schoolhouse  below :  — 
"  Ours,  as  already  intimated,  had  a  door-step  very 
similar  to  the  one  he  describes.  Ours  was  also  a 
better  schoolhouse  than  the  following,  described  by 
one  a  little  earlier,  where  he  taught  in  Vermont.  He 
says  of  it,  '  All  the  covering  upon  the  frame  was 
hemlock-boards,  feather-edged  and  nailed  on.  There 
were  no  clapboards  on  the  outside,  nor  plastering  nor 
sealing-up  on  the  inside.  The  chamber-floor  consisted 
of  loose  boards,  laid  down,  being  neither  jointed  nor 
nailed.  The  lower  floor  was  the  same  ;  and  there  was 
not  one  window  in  the  room.  All  the  light,  except- 
ing what  came  through  between  the  boards,  was  as 
follows :  There  were  two  or  three  holes  cut  through 
the  boards  of  the  side  and  end  of  the  house.  These 
were  filled  up  with  a  newspaper,  "  Spooner's  Vermont 
Journal,"  which  was  oiled  to  let  the  light  through, 
fixed  into  thin  strips  of  wood,  and  made  fast. 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND  CHILDHOOD.     31 

"  *  These  were  all  the  windows  we  had.  Sometimes 
the  boys  would  by  accident  make  a  large  hole  through 
them  with  their  elbows.  Often,  when  I  first  came 
into  the  room,  I  could  discern  but  little.  In  this  cold, 
damp,  inconvenient  place  I  spent  three  months,  in- 
structing others  to  the  best  of  my  ability.' 

"Yet  the  pupils  of  those  days  were  better  pre- 
pared for  life's  duties  than  many  who  now  graduate 
from  our  palace-like  schoolhouses. 

"  There  was  a  vast  contrast  between  these  school- 
houses  and  those  of  modern  times.  Now  we  have 
palaces  instead  of  those  little  shanty s,  or  shanties  as 
some  may  choose  to  spell  it.  Then,  too,  the  masters 
(and  they  were  properly  called  masters ;  for  they  fol- 
lowed the  proverb  of  Solomon,  <  He  that  spareth  the 
rod  spoileth  the  child')  were  chiefly  imported  from 
Connecticut  for  the  rest  of  New  England,  like  Con- 
necticut nutmegs  and  wooden  clocks.  They  had  a 
smattering  of  knowledge  in  arithmetic  and  grammar, 
and  could  read  English. 

"  There  were  no  school  committees  in  those  days, 
as  now.  The  minister  (Congregationalist,  but  called 
by  all  other  denominations  Presbyterian)  acted  as 
committee,  '  approbated '  the  teachers,  and  visited 
all  the  schools.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  moral  lec- 
tures he  used  to  give  us,  differing  widely  from  the 
transcendental  homilies  of  modern  times.  He  would 


32  LIFE  OP  HOKACE   GKEELEY. 

take  up,  for  instance,  the  subject  of  lying  ;  and  as  he 
reiterated  the  Bible  declaration,  that 'all  liars  should 
have  their  part  in  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and 
brimstone,'  and  pointed  out  the  rueful  consequences 
of  m<*ral  obliquity  both  temporal  and  eternal,  the 
attention  of  every  eye  was  riveted  upon  the  old  man, 
who  seemed  a  kind  of  connecting  link  between  angels 
and  men.  The  moral  sentimental  lessons  of  the 
present  day  are  tame  indeed  when  compared  with 
the  good  old  gospel  morality  of  those  times. 

"  The  school-books  of  those  days  were  few,  consist- 
ing of  the  Bible  or  Testament,  Psalter,  Noah  "Webster's 
Spelling-Book  and  Grammar,  Jedediah  Morse's  Geog- 
raphy, the  third  part  for  a  reading-book,  and  Dil- 
worth's  Arithmetic.  Mr.  Greeley  says,  '  When  I  first 
went  to  school,  Webster's  Spelling  was  just  supplanting 
Dilworth's,  "  The  American  Preceptor"  was  pushing 
aside  "  The  Art  of  Beading,"  and  the  only  Grammar 
"was  "  The  Ladies'  Accidence,"  by  Bingham.  The  first 
book  I  ever  owned  was  "  The  Columbian  Orator." ' 
These  were  the  sum  total  of  the  school-books ;  and  the 
master  only  had  an  arithmetic.  Every  teacher  had 
not  then  learned  that  he  must  make  a  school-book, 
and  rival  publishers  bribe  teachers  and  the  clergy 
to  introduce  their  book.  The  'dictionary  war'  was 
then  unknown  ;  and  no  book  of  the  kind  was  heard  of, 
save  Bailey's,  Johnson's,  or  Perry's.  The  pupil,  as  he 


PARENTAGE,   BIBTH,   AND   CHILDHOOD.  33 

trudged  to  school  some  mile  or  two  up  hill  and  down 
dale,  through  woods  and  snow-banks,  was  not  com- 
pelled to  carry  his  arms  full  of  books,  and  to  divide 
his  attention  between  some  dozen  studies  at  once,  so 
as  to  get  but  &  '  smattering '  of  any.  Yet  the  boys 
and  girls  of  those  days  (for  there  were  both  boys  and 
girls  then,  while  now  there  are  neither)  were  better, 
far  better,  versed  in  all  the  substantials  of  a  useful 
education  than  they  are  at  present.  They  were 
better  readers,  better  arithmeticians,  and  far  better 
penmen,  than  can  be  found  now.  This  declaration 
may  seem  humiliating  to  those  who  have  latterly 
found  so  many  royal  roads  to  knowledge,  and  made 
the  task  of  ascending  the  '  hill  of  science  '  so  easy, 
that  their  books  —  many  of  them,  at  least  —  may  be 
characterized  as  '  simplicity  simplified.'  In  penman- 
ship, especially,  did  they  so  far  excel  those  of  this  day, 
that  this  so  desirable  accomplishment  may  now  be 
classed  among  the  '  lost  arts.' 

"  A  schoolmaster  then,  too,  was  somebody.  True, 
he  '  boarded  round,'  —  that  is,  a  week  or  a  day  at  a 
place,  in  proportion  to  the  quota  of  pupils  furnished,  — 
or  was  bid  off  at  the  district  meeting  by  the  one  who 
would  board  him  the  cheapest.  But  neither  of  these, 
on  the  whole,  was  a  very  bad  plan,  as  the  former 
enabled  him  to  see  and  become  acquainted  with  the 
parents  and  his  pupils,  and,  moreover,  to  see  the 


34  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GBEELEY. 

young  ladies  at  home  (which  is  often  important  to  a 
young  man),  and  the  latter  to  exhibit  how  well  the 
paterfamilias  could  keep  him  at  a  minimum  price. 

"  The  spelling-schools  of  those  days,  too,  were  worthy 
of  note.  There  are  no  such  in  thesti  modern  times. 
To  these,  of  course,  the  small  children  did  not  come : 
it  was  only  for  those  boys  and  girls  who  were  in  their 
teens,  and  who  were  old  enough  to  enjoy  and  ap- 
preciate '  a  good  time.'  Many  a  time  has  the  writer 
enjoyed  a  school  of  this  kind,  where  the  pupils  '  chose 
sides,'  and  sat  opposite  each  other,  like  the  armies  of 
Napoleon  and  Wellington,  in  formidable  array,  till  one 
or  the  other  was  vanquished  for  missing  more  words 
than  the  conquerors.  Those  were  halcyon  schools, 
never  to  return  to  the  pupils  of  these  modern  times. 

"The  summer  schools  of  those  days,  too,  were 
worthy  of  notice  ;  for,  let  it  be  remembered,  the  mas- 
ters taught  but  two  or  three  months  (as  the  money 
held  out)  in  winter.  Then  all  the  boys  who  were  old 
enough  to  be  cabin-boys,  to  hoe  potatoes,  rake  hay,  or 
be  in  any  way  useful  to  their  parents,  were  away  from 
those  ancient  halls  of  science  ;  and,  instead  of  a  mas- 
ter and  the  large  scholars,  there  was  a  school-marm, 
and  the  small  children,  both  male  and  female.  This 
summer  school  was  usually  twice  as  long  as  that  of 
the  winter.  It  was  in  such  a  school  as  this  that 
Horace  Greeley  took  his  first  school-lessons." 


PAEENTAGE,   BIRTH,   AND    CHILDHOOD.  35 

From  that  first  book  he  ever  owned,  already  referred 
to,  he  learned  that  famous  piece,  and  spoke  it  before 
he  could  articulate  the  words  plainly,  — 

"  You'd  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age 
To  speak  in  public  on  the  stage." 

He  both  lisped  and  whined,  but  was  never  wanting 
in  confidence  ;  and  who  ever  knew  a  Scotch-Irishman 
that  was  ?  He  excelled  in  spelling ;  and  this,  gene- 
rally, lays  the  foundation  for  a  scholar.  He  was  the 
"  pet "  of  his  school-fellows  ;  and,  it  is  said,  those 
whom  he  excelled  loved  him  best.  He  was  never 
fond  of  play,  being  possessed  of  a  thoughtful,  con- 
templative intellect.  An  old  minister  of  London- 
derry took  him  in  his  lap  one  day  on  a  muster-field, 
and  attempted  to  puzzle  him  by  asking  hard  ques- 
tions ;  but,  finding  him  remarkably  posted,  put  him 
down  with  this  remark,  addressed  to  his  grandfather, 
"  Mr.  Woodburn,  that  boy  was  not  made  for  nothing." 
He  never  feared  ghosts ;  though  he  is  said  to  have  been 
sometimes  brave,  and  often  timid.  If  attacked,  he 
would  neither  run  nor  fight,  but  stand  it  out.  He 
would  often  question  the  statements  of  his  instruct- 
ors, though  he  was  never  impertinent.  He  would 
lie  under  a  tree,  and  read  by  hours,  when  not  more 
than  six  years  old.  At  this  early  age  he  decided  upon 
being  a  printer,  because  he  loved  books  so  much.  It 


36  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

was  said  his  parents  were  obliged  to  hide  his  books, 
lest  he  should  read  till  he  was  blind  ;  and  what  he 
then  read  he  always  remembered.  When  he  had 
stood  at  the  head  of  his  class,  chiefly  of  pupils  older 
than  himself,  he  bore  his  honors  meekly  ;  and  when, 
on  one  occasion,  he  lost  his  place  by  missing  a  word, 
he  wept.  He  devoured  all  the  books  that  his  father 
had,  and  then  scoured  the  country  for  more.  When 
he  got  hold  of  a  newspaper,  he  would  hasten  to  some 
secluded  place,  and  there  get  the  first  read  of  it. 

Mr.  Parton,  in  his  "  Life  of  Horace  Greeley,"  says, 
"  There  were  not  wanting  those  who  thought  that 
superior  means  of  instruction  ought  to  be  placed 
within  the  reach  of  so  superior  a  child.  I  have  a 
somewhat  vague  but  very  positive  and  fully  con- 
firmed story  of  a  young  man,  just  returned  from  col- 
lege to  his  father's  home  in  Bedford,  who  fell  in  with 
Horace,  and  was  so  struck  with  his  capacity  and  at- 
tainments, that  he  offered  to  send  him  to  an  academy 
in  a  neighboring  town,  and  bear  all  the  expenses  of  his 
maintenance  and  tuition.  But  his  mother  could  not 
Let  him  go ;  his  father  needed  his  assistance  at  home  ; 
and  the  boy  himself  is  said  not  to  have  favored  the 
scheme." 

Many  others  seem  to  have  become  specially  inter- 
ested in  this  wonderful  boy.  Some  offered  to  instruct 
him  in  farming ;  others  undertook  to  puzzle  him  by 
hard  questions,  and  ofteii  got  puzzled  themselves. 


PABENTAGE,  BERTH,  AND  CHILDHOOD.     37 

He  was  not  only  honest,  but  faithful,  in  all  that  he 
had  to  do.  If  his  father  left  him  any  work  to  do,  he 
always  did  it;  unlike  Ezekiel  Webster,  when  his 
father  told  him  to  do  a  certain  job,  and  added,  "  Dan, 
you  help  Zeke,"  and  when  the  father  returned,  and 
found  the  work  not  done,  and  called  Zeke  to  account, 
saying,  "  What  have  you  been  doing  ?  "  —  "  Nothin', 
sir,"  was  Zeke's  reply.  "  Well,  Dan,  what  have  you 
been  doing  ?  "  —  "  Been  helping  Zeke,"  was  Dan's 
answer.  Horace  always  did  his  jobs.  Horace  was 
fond  of  fishing ;  indeed,  this  was  the  only  sport  he 
seemed  to  enjoy  :  but  if  any  one  said  to  him,  "  Let  us 
go  fishing,"  he  always  replied,  "  Let  us  do  our  stint 
first." 

He  never  loved  murder ;  and,  if  he  went  gunning 
with  other  boys,  he  never  carried  or  fired  a  gun.  His 
inherent  dread  of  murder  may  be  a  reason  why  ho 
now  wishes  "  to  bridge  over  the  bloody  chasm  between 
the  North  and  the  South." 

4 


CHAPTER  III. 

HORACE  REMOVES  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

Horace's  Father  loses  his  Property.  —  The  Old  Greek  Law.  —  Great  Sacri- 
fice. —  Moves  to  West  Haven,  Vt.  —  Horace's  Dress.  —  At  School  he  aids 
the  Other  Scholars.  —  A  Checker-Player.  —  He  scours  the  Country  for 
Books.  — Visits  his  Friends  in  Londonderry.  —  Taken  fo»an  Idiot.  —  His 
Teetotalism.  —  He  begins  to  be  a  Politician.  —  His  Description  of  it 
later  in  Life. 

WHEN  he  was  only  six  or  seven  years  old,  the 
prospects  of  his  father  began  to  be*  clouded, 
and  the  storm  soon  broke  by  which  they  were  com- 
pelled to  give  up  their  house  and  farm.  His  father 
lost  all  his  property,  and  was  compelled  to  leave  his 
native  State. 

No  man  could  thrive  in  the  Granite  State  without 
working  very  hard  and  living  very  close.  He  lost  by 
disobeying  the  direction  of  the  wise  man,  and  being 
"  bound  "  or  surety  for  another.  He  used  liquor,  as 
everybody  else  did  in  those  days  ;  and  in  this  way  he 
incurred  losses  :  his  affairs  became  deranged,  and  ere 
long  he  found  himself  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  of 
bankruptcy. 

38 


REMOVES  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.       39 

Mr.  Greeley  in  his  "  Recollections,"  already  named, 
gives  the  following  account  of  affairs  at  this  time : 
"  We  had  finished  our  summer  tillage  and  our  hay- 
ing, when  a  very  heavy  rain  set  in,  near  the  end  of 
August.  I  think  its  second  day  was  a  Saturday ;  and 
still  the  rain  poured  till  far  into  the  night.  Father 
was  absent  on  business  ;  but  our  mother  gathered  her 
little  ones  around  her,  and  delighted  us  with  stories, 
and  prospects  of  good  things  she  purposed  to  do  for  us 
in  the  better  days  she  hoped  to  see.  Father  did  not 
return  till  after  we  children  were  fast  asleep ;  and, 
when  he  did,  it  was  with  tidings  that  our  ill  fortune 
was  about  to  culminate.  I  guess  that  he  was  scarcely 
surprised,  though  we  young  ones  ruefully  were,  when, 
about  sunrise  on  Monday  morning,  the  sheriff  and 
sundry  other  officials,  with  two  or  three  of  our  prin- 
cipal creditors,  appeared,  and,  first  formally  demand- 
ing payment  of  their  claims,  proceeded  to  levy  on 
farm,  stock,  implements,  household  stuff,  and  nearly 
all  our  worldly  possessions  but  the  clothes  we  stood 
in.  There  had  been  no  writ  issued  till  then  ;  of 
course  no  trial,  no  judgment :  but  it  was  a  word  and 
a  blow  in  those  days,  and  the  blow  first,  in  the  matter 
of  debt-collecting  by  legal  process.  Father  left  the 
premises  directly,  apprehending  arrest  and  imprison- 
ment, and  was  invisible  all  day :  the  rest  of  us 
repaired  to  a  friendly  neighbor's,  and  the  work  of  levy- 


40  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

ing  went  on  in  our  absence.  It  were  needless  to  add, 
that  all  we  had  was  swallowed  up,  and  our  debts  not 
much  lessened.  Our  farm,  which  had  cost  us  thirteen 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  which  had  been  con- 
siderably improved  in  our  hands,  was  appraised,  and 
set  off  to  creditors  at  five  hundred  dollars,  out  of 
which  the  legal  costs  were  first  deducted.  A  barn 
full  of  rye,  grown  by  us  on  another's  land,  whereof 
we  owned  an  undivided  half,  was  attached  by  a 
doctor,  threshed  out  by  his  poorer  customers  by  day's 
work  on  account,  and  sold  ;  the  net  result  being  an 
enlargement  of  our  debt,  the  grain  failing  to  meet 
all  the  costs.  Thus,  when  night  fell,  we  were  as 
bankrupt  a  family  as  well  could  be." 

Horace  was  ten  years  old  when  his  father  fled  from 
New  Hampshire,  and  finally  made  his  way  to  West 
Haven  in  Vermont.  They  made  this  journey  in  the 
middle  of  winter.  He  found  some  difficulty  in  get- 
ting a  man  to  move  his  family,  as  he  was  a  stranger  ; 
but  finally  made  arrangements  with  a  teamster  to 
go  to  New  Hampshire  and  bring  his  family  to  Ver- 
mont. 

At  West  Haven  Mr.  Greeley  (Zach)  found  a  man 
who  had  once  been  a  Boston  merchant,  but  now  re- 
tired, who  owned  much  land,  who*gave  him  work,  let 
him  a  house,  and  made  a  home  for  him. 

This  removal  to  West  Haven  was  in  many  respects 


REMOVES  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  41 

beneficial  to  the  family.  It  was  a  newer  and  better 
soil.  A  poor  man  with  a  large  family  of  children 
could  do  better  here  ;  and  here  Mr.  Greeley  did  jobs, 
farmed  for  others,  ran  a  saw-mill,  cleared  up  land,  and 
burnt  coal-pits  ;  and,  in  all  that  he  did,  his  family 
worked  with  him. 

Horace  was  his  right-hand  boy,  driving  the  oxen, 
helping  chop  wood,  and  gather  and  burn  the  brush  in 
clearing  the  land.  He  was  always  busy.  Even  at 
this  early  age,  his  dress  was  worn  after  a  fashion  of 
his  own ;  and  he  rarely  wore  more  than  three  gar- 
ments in  hot  weather, — a  straw  hat  (not  often  in  very 
good  condition),  a  coarse  linen  or  tow  shirt,  trousers 
of  family  make-up,  being  short,  and  somebody  says, 
"  One  leg  was  usually  shorter  than  the  other."  In 
the  cold  weather  he  increased  his  apparel  by  shoes 
and  a  jacket.  Five  years  he  lived  in  West  Haven : 
and  it  has  been  supposed,  that,  during  this  time,  his 
clothes  did  not  cost  over  three  dollars  a  year  ;  and  it 
has  been  conjectured,  that,  from  his  childhood  till  he 
was  free,  his  clothing  did  not  cost  over  fifty  dollars. 
Wherever  he  was,  —  at  home  or  abroad,  at  church,  or 
among  his  playmates,  —  he  was  never  known  to  make 
the  slightest  reference,  or  pay  the  least  regard,  to  his 
dress.  During  the  three  winters  he  attended  school 
in  West  Haven,  he  learned  but  little ;  for  he  knew 
about  all  that  was  there  taught.  He  always  made  an 


42  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

uncouth  figure  at  school,  sitting  in  his  clean  but 
coarse  attire,  his  arms  half  folded,  his  legs  crossed 
one  over  the  other ;  his  head  large,  and  bent  forward ; 
and,  though  apparently  indifferent,  he  saw  every  thing, 
knew  every  thing,  and  caught  all  that  was  said  and 
done. 

Though  he  learned  but  little  at  his  West-Haven 
schools,  yet  others  learned  much  from  him  :  for  the 
bigger  boys  were  ever  after  him  for  aid  in  getting 
their  lessons,  both  in  and  out  of  school ;  and  he 
seemed  pleased  to  render  all  the  assistance  in  his 
power  to  any  one.  He  annoyed  some  of  his  teachers  at 
these  schools  because  he  knew  more  than  they  did. 
His  questions  they  could  not  answer ;  and  he  would 
not  be  put  off.  This  cause  continued  till  one  of  his 
teachers  had  sense  and  candor  enough  to  go  to  his 
father  and  tell  him  it  was  no  use  to  send  Horace 
to  school  to  him ;  for  the  boy,  though  only  thirteen, 
knew  more  than  he  did.  The  father  took  the  hint, 
and  took  Horace  from  the  school ;  and  so  he  read  and 
studied  all  winter  alone  in  his  room  lighted  by  pine- 
knots,  for  a  caudle  was  a  luxury  not  often  enjoyed. 

The  only  game  he  ever  seemed  to  enjoy  was 
checkers,  or  draughts ;  and  into  this  he  entered 
with  a  zest.  There  was  a  good  reason  for  this  to  such 
a  mind  as  his;  for  there  is  no  game  into  which  planning' 
and  scheming  enter  more  deeply :  and  according  to 


REMOVES  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  43 

)r.  Emmons,  the  sage  of  Franklin,  this  was  a  game 

fit"  to  be  played ;  for  he  laid  down  the  maxim,  that 
11  chance-games  were  wrong,  and  all  that  exercised 
intellect  were  right. 

He  early  showed  the  true  Yankee;  for  he  was 
never  idle,  but  would  hack  and  whittle,  and  find 
something  to  employ  himself  about,  and  would  have 
something  to  sell,  such  as  roots,  nuts,  kindling-wood, 
and  honey.  He  was  a  great  bee-hunter,  and,  it  is  said, 
sometimes  got  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  honey 
from  one  tree. 

Thus,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  every  active  poor 
boy  in  the  country,  he  managed  to  have  some  money 
by  him  at  all  times. 

At  West  Haven,  as  he  had  done  at  Amherst,  he 
scoured  the  whole  country  for  books :  he  read  the 
Bible,  history,  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  "  The  Arabian 
Nights,"  and  all  the  other  books  he  could  get.  He 
was  specially  pleased  with  Mrs.  Hemans's  poems. 

He  kept  always  in  view  his  determination  to  be  a 
printer  :  and,  when  he  was  eleven  years  old,  he  talked 
with  his  father  about  it,  but  got  no  encouragement 
from  him  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  father  said  no 
one  would  take  an  apprentice  so  young.  This  did 
not  satisfy  Horace :  so  off  he  tramped  one  day  to  White- 
hall, nine  miles,  where  a  newspaper  was  printed.  He 
found  the  printer,  conversed  with  him,  and  found, 


44  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

just  as  his  father  "  Zach  "  had  said,  that  he  was  too 
young. 

Soon  after,  our  young  hero  started  on  a  longer 
excursion  to  visit  his  old  friends  in  Londonderry,  dis- 
tant a  hundred  and  twenty  miles.  All  the  money  he 
had  in  his  pocket  for  this  long  pedestrian  tour  was 
seventy-five  cents.  He  carried  a  small  bundle  with  a 
stick  over  his  shoulder ;  and,  after  remaining  a  few 
weeks,  again  appeared  among  his  friends  in  West 
Haven  with  more  money  in  his  pocket  than  he  had 
when  he  started  on  the  journey. 

He  was  oftener  than  once,  on  the  various  journeys 
that  he  made,  taken  for  an  idiot.  It  is  said  he  once 
entered  a  store,  and  a  stranger  inquired, "  What  darned 
fool  is  that  ?  "  So  it  is  also  said  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  calling  his  father  "  sir."  He  was  one  day  chop- 
ping wood  by  the  side  of  the  road,  when  a  man  rode 
up  and  inquired  the  way  to  a  certain  place.  The 
boy  did  not  know,  and  answered,  "  Ask  sir."  The 
man  repeated  his  question ;  and  the  boy,  without 
looking  up,  answered,  "  Ask  sir."  — "  I  am  asking !  " 
exclaimed  the  man.  "  Well,  ask  szV,"  the  boy  again 
replied.  "Ain't  I  asking,  you  fool?"  said  the  man. 
"  But  I  want  you  to  ask  sir!  "  repeated  the  boy  again. 
The  man  rode  away  in  high  dudgeon,  and  inquired 
at  the  next  tavern  who  that  tow-headed  fool  was  down 
the  road. 


KEMOVES  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  45 

Horace  was  a  teetotaler  long  before  any  such  pledge 
was  known  to  a  society.  On  one  occasion,  when  a 
neighbor  called,  and  the  bottle  was  produced,  as  was 
the  custom  in  those  days,  Horace  said,  "  Father,  what 
will  you  give  me  if  I  will  not  drink  a  drop  of  liquor 
till  I  am  twenty-one  ?  "  His  father  answered,  "  I  will 
give  you  a  dollar." — "It's  a  bargain,"  said  the  boy. 
He  kept  the  pledge ;  but,  whether  he  received  the  dol- 
lar or  not,  I  have  never  learned. 

At  West  Haven,  Horace  came  near  being  drowned 
one  day.  They  lived  on  the  bank  of  the  Hub- 
barton  River.  The  river,  in  consequence  of  a  dam 
for  a  saw-mill  which  his  father  run  for  a  time, 
was  deep  enough  to  drown  a  man.  They  used  to 
cross  the  river  by  logs :  and  the  boys  were  floating 
about  upon  them  one  day,  when  the  younger  brother 
was  thrown  into  the  water  by  the  rolling  over  of  the 
log  he  was  upon  ;  and,  when  he  rose,  Horace  has- 
tened to  his  relief.  In  attempting  to  save  his  brother, 
the  log  rolled  over  again,  and  plunged  Horace  also 
into  the  river.  They  came  near  being  drowned,  as 
neither  of  them  could  swim.  The  younger  one  got 
out  first ;  and,  as  the  log  floated  into  shallower  water, 
he  sprang  upon  it,  and  was  saved. 

This,  if  it  was  the  first,  was  not  the  last,  of  Horace 
Greeley's  "  log-rolling ; "  for  he  has  rolled  many  a 
soaky  one  out  of  the  way  since. 


46  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GBEELEY. 

About  this  time,  he  was  greatly  delighted  with  the 
story  of  Demetrius,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  man- 
aged the  Athenians,  and  how  he  overcame  by  mercy. 

He  was  considerably  excited  on  political  matters 
while  at  West  Haven,  though  so  young.  He  seems  to 
have  imbibed  his  principles  of  protection  —  his  lifelong 
hobby  —  about  this  period.  Though  but  thirteen,  he, 
after  twenty  years,  wrote  them  out  in  "  The  Tribune  " 
of  Aug.  29,  1846,  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  first  political  contest  in  which  we  ever  took  a 
distinct  interest  will  serve  to  illustrate  this  distinction 
[between  real  and  sham  democracy].  It  was  the 
presidential  election  of  1824.  Five  candidates  for 
president  were  offered ;  but  one  of  them  was  with- 
drawn, leaving  four,  —  all  of  them  members  in  regular 
standing  of  the  so-called  Republican  or  Democratic 
party.  But  a  caucus  of  one-fourth  of  the  members  of 
Congress  had  selected  one  of  the  four  (William  H. 
Crawford)  as  the  Republican  candidate ;  and  it  was 
attempted  to  make  the  support  of  this  one  a  test  of 
party  orthodoxy  and  fealty.  This  was  resisted,  we 
think  most  justly  and  democratically,  by  three-fourths 
of  the  people,  including  a  large  majority  of  those  of  this 
State.  But  among  the  prime  movers  of  the  caucus- 
wires  was  Martin  Van  Buren  of  this  State  ;  and  here  it 
was  gravely  proclaimed  and  insisted  that  democracy 
required  a  blind  support  of  Crawford  in  preference 


BEMOVES  FKOM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  47 

to  Adams,  Jackson,  or  Clay  (all  of  the  Democratic 
party),  who  -were  competitors  for  the  station.  A  legis- 
lature was  chosen  as  '  Republican,'  before  the  people 
generally  had  begun  to  think  of  the  presidency ;  and 
this  legislature,  it  was  undoubtedly  expected,  would 
choose  Crawford  electors  of  president.  But  the 
friends  of  the  rival  candidates  at  length  began  to  bestir 
themselves,  and  demand  that  the  New- York  electors 
should  be  chosen  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people,  and 
not  by  a  forestalled  legislature.  This  demand  was 
vehemently  resisted  by  Martin  Van  Buren  and  those 
who  followed  his  lead,  including  the  leading  Demo- 
cratic politicians  and  editors  of  the  State,  '  The  Alba- 
ny Argus,'  '  Noah's  Inquirer,  or  National  Advocate,' 
&c.  The  feeling  in.  favor  of  an  election  by  the  people 
became  so  strong  and  general,  that  Gov.  Yates,  though 
himself  a  Crawford  man,  was  impelled  to  call  a  spe- 
cial session  of  the  legislature  for  this  express  purpose. 
The  assembly  passed  a  bill  giving  the  choice  to  the 
people  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  in  defiance  of  the 
exertions  of  Van  Buren,  A.  C.  Flagg,  <fec.  The  bill 
went  to  the  senate  ;  to  which  body  Silas  Wright  had 
recently  been  elected  from  the  Northern  District,  and 
elected  by  Clintonian  votes  on  an  explicit  understand- 
ing that  he  would  vote  for  giving  the  choice  of  the 
electors  to  the  people.  He  accordingly  voted  on  one 
or  two  abstract  propositions,  that  the  choice  ought  to 


48  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

be  given  to  the  people  ;  but,  when  it  came  to  a  direct 
vote,  this  same  Silas  Wright  (now  governor)  voted  to 
deprive  the  people  of  that  privilege  by  postponing  the 
whole  subject  to  the  next  regular  session  of  the  legisla- 
ture, when  it  would  be  too  late  for  the  people  to  choose 
electors  for  that  time.  A  bare  majority  (seventeen)  of 
the  senators  thus  withheld  from  the  people  the  right 
they  demanded.  The  cabal  failed  in  their  great  ob- 
ject, after  all :  for  several  members  of  the  legislature, 
elected  as  Democrats,  took  ground  for  Mr.  Clay,  and, 
by  uniting  with  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams,  defeated 
most  of  the  Crawford  electors  ;  and  Crawford  lost  the 
presidency.  We  were  but  thirteen  when  this  took 
place,  but  looked  on  very  earnestly,  without  preju- 
dice, and  tried  to  look  beyond  the  mere  names  by 
which  the  contending  parties  were  called.  Could  we 
doubt  that  democracy  was  on  one  side,  and  the  Demo- 
cratic party  on  the  other  ?  Will  '  Democrats '  attempt 
to  gainsay  it  now  ?  Mr.  Adams  was  chosen  president, 
—  as  thorough  a  democrat,  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word,  as  ever  lived ;  a  plain,  unassuming,  upright, 
and  most  capable  statesman.  He  managed  the  public 
affairs  so  well,  that  nobody  could  really  give  a  reason 
for  opposing  him  ;  and  hardly  any  two  gave  the  same 
reason.  There  was  no  party  conflict  during  his  time 
respecting  the  bank,  tariff,  internal  improvements,  nor 
any  thing  else  of  a  substantial  character.  He  kept 


REMOVES  FROM  STEW   HAMPSHIRE.  49 

the  expenses  of  the  government  very  moderate ;  he 
never  turned  a  man  out  of  office  because  of  a  differ- 
ence of  political  sentiment :  yet  it  was  determined  at 
the  outset  that  he  should  be  put  down,  no  matter  how 
well  he  might  administer  the  government ;  and  a  com- 
bination of  the  old  Jackson,  Crawford,  and  Calhoun 
parties,  with  the  personal  adherents  of  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton, aided  by  a  shamefully  false  and  preposterous 
outcry  that  he  had  obtained  the  presidency  by  a 
bargain  with  Mr.  Clay,  succeeded  in  returning  an 
opposition  Congress  in  the  middle  of  his  term,  and,  at 
its  close,  to  put  in  Gen.  Jackson  over  him  by  a  large 
majority. 

"  Tbe  character  of  this  man  Jackson  we  had  studied 
pretty  thoroughly,  and  without  prejudice.  His  fatal 
duel  with  Dickinson  about  a  horse-race  ;  his  pistolling 
Col.  Benton  in  the  streets  of  Nashville ;  his  forcing 
his  way  through  the  Indian  country  with  his  drove  of 
negroes  in  defiance  of  the  express  order  of  the  agent 
Dinsmore  ;  his  imprisonment  of  Judge  Hall  at  New 
Orleans  long  after  the  British  had  left  that  quarter, 
and  when  martial  law  ought  long  since  to  have  been 
set  aside ;  his  irruption  into  Florida,  and  capture  of 
Spanish  posts  and  officers,  without  a  shadow  of  authority 
to  do  so ;  his  threats  to  cut  off  the  ears  of  senators  who 
censured  this  conduct  in  solemn  debate ;  in  short,  his 
whole  life,  —  convinced  us  that  the  man  never  was  a 
s 


50  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

democrat  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  terra,  but  a  vio- 
lent and  lawless  despot,  after  the  pattern  of  Caesar, 
Cromwell,  and  Napoleon,  and  unfit  to  be  trusted  with 
power.  Of  course  we  went  against  him,  but  not 
against  any  thing  really  democratic  in  him  or  his 
party. 

"  That  Gen.  Jackson  in  power  justified  all  our  pre- 
vious expectations  of  him  need  hardly  be  said ;  that 
he  did  more  to  destroy  the  republican  character  of 
our  government,  and  render  it  a  centralized  despot- 
ism, than  any  other  man  could  do,  we  certainly 
believe  :  but  our  correspondent  and  we  would  proba- 
bly disagree  with  regard  to  the  bank  and  other  ques- 
tions which  convulsed  the  Union  during  his  rule ;  and 
we  will  only  ask  his  attention  to  one  of  them,  the 
earliest,  and,  in  our  view,  the  most  significant. 

"  The  Cherokee  Indians  owned,  and  had  ever 
occupied,  an  extensive  tract  of  country  lying  within 
the  geographical  limits  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  &c.  It 
was  theirs  by  the  best  possible  title,  —  theirs  by  our 
solemn  and  reiterated  treaty  stipulations.  We  had 
repeatedly  bought  from  them  slices  of  their  lands, 
solemnly  guaranteeing  to  them  all  that  we  did  not 
buy,  and  agreeing  to  defend  them  therein  against  all 
aggressors.  We  had  promised  to  keep  all  intruders 
out  of  their  territory.  At  least  one  of  these  treaties 
was  signed  by  Gen.  Jackson  himself;  others  by  Wash- 


KEMOVES   FKOM  NEW   HAMPSHIRE.  51 

ington,  Jefferson,  <fec.  All  the  usual  pretexts  for 
aggression  upon  Indians  failed  in  this  case.  The 
Cherokees  had  been  our  friends  and  allies  for  many 
years ;  they  had  committed  no  depredations ;  they 
were  peaceful,  industrious,  in  good  part  Christianized, 
had  a  newspaper  printed  in  their  own  tongue,  and 
were  fast  improving  in  the  knowledge  and  application 
of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  They  compared  favorahly 
every  way  with  their  white  neighbors.  But  the 
Georgians  coveted  their  fertile  lands,  and  determined 
to  have  them :  they  set  them  up  in  a  lottery,  and 
gambled  them  off  among  themselves,  and  resolved  to 
take  possession.  A  fraudulent  treaty  was  made  between 
a  few  Cherokees  of  no  authority  or  consideration  and 
sundry  white  agents,  including  one  '  who  stole  the 
livery  of  Heaven  to  serve  the  Devil  in ; '  but  every- 
body scoffed  at  this  mockery,  as  did  ninety-nine  hun- 
dredths  of  the  Cherokees." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HORACE  BECOMES  AN  APPRENTICE. 

Horace  visits  Poultney.  —  His  Description  by  Mr.  Bliss.  —  He  is  a  Match  for 
the  School-committee  Man.  —  He  is  employed.  —  What  the  Other 
Printers  in  the  Office  think  of  him.  —  Horace  in  the  Lyceum.  —  He  boards 
at  the  Tavern,  but  won't  drink.  —  What  a  New- York  Physician  said  of 
him.  —  Anti-Masonry  of  that  Time. 

f 

HORACE  wanted  to  be  an  apprentice,  strange  as 
it  may  seem  ;  and  in  1826  he  went  to  East 
Poultney,  Yt.  He  had  learned  that  a  newspaper  was 
printed  there,  and  that  a  Mr.  Amos  Bliss,  who  was  the 
manager  and  one  of  the  owners,  wanted  a  boy.  Horace 
entered  the  gate,  and  found  Mr.  Bliss  in  his  garden, 
planting  potatoes.  He  heard  Horace  open  the  gate, 
and,  looking  round,  saw  a  singular-looking  boy.  Still 
Mr.  Bliss  continued  his  work  until  Horace  said  to 
him,  "  Are  you  the  man  that  carries  on  the  printing- 
office  ?  "  Mr.  Bliss  then  inspected  the  boy  more  care- 
fully, and  noticed  that  he  had  on  no  stockings ;  his 
shoes  were  what  were  called  "  high-lows ;  "  his  hat  an 
old  "  felt,"  of  a  small  brim,  set  on  the  back  of  his 

62 


BECOMES  AN  APPRENTICE.  53 

head  ;  and  his  hair  nearly  white.  The  whole  appear- 
ance of  the  lad  was  ludicrous.  But  he  finally  an- 
swered, "  Yes  :  I'm  the  man." 

"  Don't  you  want  a  boy  to  learn  the  trade?"  said 
Horace. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Bliss,  "  we  have  been  thinking  of 
it.  Do  you  want  to  learn  to  print  ?  " 

"  I've  had  some  notion  of  it,"  said  Horace. 

Mr.  Bliss  was  perplexed  :  it  seemed  strange  to  him 
that  such  a  looking  chap  as  he  was  should  ever  have 
thought  of  printing. 

"  Well,  my  boy  ;  but  you  know  it  requires  consider- 
able learning  to  be  a  printer.  Have  you  been  to  school 
much  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Horace.  "  I  haven't  had  much  chance 
at  school.  I've  read  some." 

"  What  have  you  read  ?  " 

"  Well,  I've  read  some  history,  and  some  travels, 
and  a  little  of  most  every  thing." 

"  Where  do  you  live  ? " 

"  At  West  Haven." 

"  How  did  you  come  here  ?  " 

"  I  came  on  foot." 

"  What's  your  name  ?  " 

"  Horace  Greeley." 

This  Mr.  Bliss  had  been  one  of  the  committee  of 
common  schools,  and  had  been  accustomed  to  examine 


54  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

both  teachers  and  pupils ;  and  he  loved  this  business 
well,  and  considered  himself  quite  skilled  in  it :  so  he 
went  on  with  his  examination  of  this  queer-looking 
boy,  asking  all  the  questions  he  could  think  of.  And 
the  examiner  found  his  match.  So,  when  the  exami- 
nation ended,  Mr.  Bliss  told  him  he  thought  he  would 
do,  and  he  might  go  into  the  printing-office  and  see 
the  foreman.  Horace  went  into  the  office,  where  there 
were  three  other  apprentices,  who  never  forgot  his 
remarkable  appearance.  Horace  addressed  the  fore- 
man, who  felt  surprised  that  Mr.  Bliss  should  have 
sent  such  a  looking  boy  into  the  office.  But,  on  talk- 
ing with  the  boy  a  few  minutes,  he  became  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  he  was  worth  something.  He  tore 
off  a  slip  of  paper,  wrote  a  few  words  on  it  with  a  pen- 
cil, gave  it  to  Horace,  and  told  him  to  take  it  to  Mr. 
Bliss.  His  destiny  depended  on  that  paper :  it  had  on 
it,  "  Guess  we'd  better  try  him."  After  another  exami- 
nation by  Mr.  Bliss,  he  agreed  to  take  Horace  as  an 
apprentice,  provided  his  father  would  agree  to  the 
terms,  and  sign  the  usual  documents. 

At  night  one  of  the  apprentices  said,  "  Mr.  Bliss, 
you're  not  going  to  hire  that  tow-head ;  are  you  ?  "  — "  I 
am,"  was  the  answer ;  "  and,  if  you  boys  are  expecting 
to  get  any  fun  out  of  him,  you'd  better  get  it  quick, 
or  you'll  bo  too  late.  There's  something  in  that  tow- 
head,  as  you'll  find  out  before  you're  a  week  older." 


BECOMES  AN  APPKENTICE.  55 

The  next  day  Horace  gathered  his  scanty  wardrobe 
into  a  pocket-handkerchief,  and  started  with  his  father 
for  East  Poultney.  Horace's  little  handkerchief  was 
not  full ;  for  he  had  but  two  shirts  and  one  change  of 
other  clothes. 

But  the  terms  upon  which  Mr.  Bliss  would  take 
Horace  as  an  apprentice  were  such  that  his  father  could 
not  agree  to :  so  he  objected  to  every  part  of  the  pro- 
posals. He  must  be  bound  for  five  years,  and  receive 
his  board  only,  and  twenty  dollars  a  year.  Mr.  Gree- 
ley  had  made  up  his  mind  that  none  of  his  children 
should  be  "  bound :  "  five  years  seemed  too  long  to 
serve,  and  twenty  dollars  a  year  too  small  a  sum.  But 
Mr.  Bliss  said  these  were  the  usual  terms,  and  he 
should  agree  to  no  others.  Mr.  Greeley,  however, 
stuck  to  his  declaration  with  a  Greeley's  tenacity,  till 
Horace,  with  a  pleading  countenance  and  his  whining 
voice,  interposed,  and  said,  "  Father,  I  guess  you'd  bet- 
ter make  a  bargain  with  Mr.  Bliss :  I  guess  it  won't 
make  much  difference."  Mr.  Bliss  had  intimated  that 
he  should  do  business  in  no  other  way.  "  Well  then, 
Horace,"  said  Mr.  Greeley,  "  let  us  go  home  ; "  and 
the  father  turned  to  go  ;  but  Horace  still  stopped. 
But  other  terms  were  proposed  and  adopted  ;  and  the 
father  returned  to  West  Haven,  and  Horace  went  into 
the  printing-office  in  Poultney.  While  here,  he  made 
his  first  efforts  at  original  composition.  He  wrote 


56  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

paragraphs  for  the  paper ;  and,  during  the  whole  time 
that  he  remained  in  Poultnej,  he  rendered  good  ser- 
vice to  the  paper  in  editorials. 

A  lyceum  had  been  formed  before  Horace  went  to 
Poultney,  which  he  soon  joined,  and  became  one  of  its 
active  members.  It  had  become  very  popular,  persons 
coming  ten  miles  to  attend  its  meetings.  The  ques- 
tions discussed  were  of  the  following  tenor :  "  Is  the 
Union  likely  to  continue  ?  "  "  Was  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
a  great  man  ?  "  "  May  a  person  take  the  life  of  another 
in  self-defence  ?  "  "  Is  novel-reading  injurious  to  soci- 
ety ? "  "  Do  we  as  a  nation  exert  a  good  influence 
upon  the  world  ?  "  &c.  On  these  and  many  other 
questions  Horace  was  semper  par  aim  (always  ready). 

Soon  after  Horace  commenced  his  apprenticeship, 
his  father  removed  from  West  Haven,  Vt.,  to  Erie 
County,  Penn.,  and  bought  a  considerable  tract  of 
wild  land.  Twice  Horace  visited  his  father  in  his  new 
home,  and  walked  a  great  part  of  the  way,  the  distance 
being  six  hundred  miles.. 

He  remained  in  Poultney  four  years,  and  boarded 
at  the  tavern,  where  everybody  drank  but  Horace. 
One  says,  "  I  never  feared  for  him.  He  was  always 
right.  At  the  table  he  always  helped  himself,  and 
never  sought  to  be  waited  upon." 

Mr.  Parton,  in  his  "  Life  of  Horace  Greeley,"  gives 
the  following  interesting  sketch  of  him,  by  a  New- York 


BECOMES  AN  APPRENTICE.  57 

physician,  who  happened  to  be  present  at  one  of  those 
dinners  at  the  Poultney  Tavern  when  eatables  and 
mentals  were  discussed  :  "  Did  I  ever  tell  you  how 
and  where  I  first  saw  my  friend  Horace  Greeley  ? 
Well,  thus  it  happened.  It  was  one  of  the  proudest 
and  happiest  days  of  my  life.  I  was  a  country-boy 
then,  a  farmer's  son ;  and  we  lived  a  few  miles  from 
East  Poultney.  On  the  day  in  question,  I  was  sent  by 
my  father  to  sell  a  load  of  potatoes  at  the  store  in  East 
Poultney,  and  bring  back  various  commodities  in  ex- 
change. Now,  this  was  the  first  time,  you  must  know, 
that  I  had  ever  been  intrusted  with  so  important  an 
errand.  I  had  been  to  the  village  with  my  father  often 
enough  ;  but  now  I  was  to  go  alone,  and  I  felt  as  proud 
and  independent  as  a  midshipman  the  first  time  he 
goes  ashore  in  command  of  a  boat.  Big  with  the  fate 
of  twenty  bushels  of  potatoes,  off  I  drove,  reached  the 
village,  sold  out  my  load,  drove  round  to  the  tavern, 
put  up  my  horses,  and  went  in  to  dinner.  This  going 
to  the  tavern  on  my  own  account,  all  by  myself,  and 
paying  my  own  bill,  was,  I  thought,  the  crowning 
glory  of  the  whole  adventure.  There  were  a  good 
many  people  at  dinner,  —  the  sheriff  of  the  county  and 
an  ex-member  of  Congress  among  them, —  and  I  felt 
considerably  abashed  at  first ;  but  I  had  scarcely  be- 
gun to  eat,  when  my  eyes  fell  upon  an  object  so  singu- 
lar, that  I  could  do  little  else  than  stare  at  it  all  the 


58  LIFE  OP   HORACE  GREELEY. 

while  it  remained  in  the  room.  It  was  a  tall,  pale, 
white-haired,  gawky  boy,  seated  at  the  farther  end 
of  the  table.  lie  was  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  and  was 
eating  with  a  rapidity  and  awkwardness  that  I  never 
saw  equalled  before  nor  since.  It  seemed  as  if  he  was 
eating  for  a  wager,  and  had  gone  in  to  win.  He  neither 
looked  up  nor  round,  nor  appeared  to  pay  the  least 
attention  to  the  conversation.  My  first  thought  was, 
'  This  is  a  pretty  sort  of  a  tavern  to  let  such  a  fellow  as 
that  sit  at  the  same  table  with  all  these  gentlemen: 
he  ought  to  come  in  with  the  hostler.'  I  thought  it 
strange,  too,  that  no  one  seemed  to  notice  him ;  and  I 
supposed  he  owed  his  continuance  at  the  table  to  that 
circumstance  alone.  And  so  I  sat,  eating  little  myself, 
and  occupied  in  watching  the  wonderful  performance 
of  this  wonderful  youth.  At  length,  the  conversation 
at  the  table  became  quite  animated,  turning  upon  some 
measure  of  an  early  Congress ;  and  a  question  arose 
how  certain  members  had  voted  on  its  final  passage. 
There  was  a  difference  of  opinion  ;  and  the  sheriff,  a 
very  finely-dressed  personage,  I  thought,  to  my  bound- 
less astonishment  referred  the  matter  to  the  unac- 
countable boy,  saying,  '  Ain't  that  right,  Greeley  ? '  — 
'No,'  said  the  unaccountable,  without  looking  up, 
*  you're  wrong.' — '  There,'  said  the  ex-member,  '  I 
told  you  so  !'  —  'And  you're  wrong  too,'  said  the  still 
devouring  mystery.  Then  he  laid  down  his  knife  and 


BECOMES  AN  APPRENTICE.  59 

* 

fork,  and  gave  the  history  of  the  measure,  explained 
the  state  of  parties  at  the  time,  stated  the  vote  in  dis- 
pute, named  the  leading  advocates  and  opponents  of 
the  bill,  and,  in  short,  gave  a  complete  exposition  of  the 
whole  matter.  I  listened  and  wondered;  but  what 
surprised  me  most  was,  that  the  company  received  his 
statement  as  pure  gospel,  and  as  settling  the  question 
beyond  dispute,  as  a  dictionary  settles  a  dispute  re- 
specting the  spelling  of  a  word.  A  minute  after,  the 
boy  left  the  dining-room,  and  I  never  saw  him  again, 
till  I  met  him,  years  after,  in  the  streets  of  New  York, 
when  I  claimed  acquaintance  with  him  as  a  brother 
Vermonter,  and  told  him  this  story,  to  his  great  amuse- 
ment." 

Horace  is  represented,  by  those  who  knew  him  at 
the  time  of  his  apprenticeship,  as  very  free  from  every 
thing  of  a  vicious  character,  and  with  a  strong  deter- 
mination to  study  every  subject  that  came  in  his  way. 
Though  so  young,  he  was  even  then  an  ardent  politi- 
cian ;  and  the  exciting  incidents  of  those  days  were  by 
no  means  calculated  to  cool  his  ardor.  Some  of  us 
still  remember  the  excitement  about  the  time  that 
President  Jackson  reigned,  and  that  political  lying 
has  rarely,  if  ever,  in  our  country,  been  carried  to 
greater  perfection  than  in  those  days.  Jackson's 
"  cotton-bags  "  had  gained  him  the  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans, which  made  him  president ;  but,  if  he  had  lost 


60  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GEEELEY. 

that,  he  would  have  been  shot,  instead  of  being  re- 
corded with  censure  for  disobeying  orders. 

It  was  while  Horace  was  in  Poultney  tbat  the  anti- 
Masonic  excitement  began  on  account  of  Morgan's 
book  and  disappearance.  Morgan  was  of  the  same 
craft  with  Horace  ;  and,  when  these  two  events  trans- 
pired, the  whole  North,  almost  to  a  man,  except  those 
of  the  Masonic  craft,  became  furious  against  the  order. 

The  writer  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  those  times,  all 
which  he  saw,  and  part  of  which  he  was.  No  man,  in 
many  of  our  towns,  who  was  a  Mason,  could  hold  even 
the  smallest  office.  Many  lodges  surrendered  their 
charters ;  and  the  order  was  supposed  to  have  become 
dead,  and  no  man  supposed  it  would  revive  as  it  has, 
and  run  again,  like  a  fox  with  a  new  tail,  as  it  now 
does  in  1872.  Horace  entered  zealously  into  the  con- 
test, and  was  a  strong  anti-Mason. 

He  had  now  learned  his  trade  ;  was  no  longer  a  boy, 
but  a  man.  True,  he  had  acquired  but  little  knowl- 
edge in  school :  but  he  had  studied  men  and  things, 
and  his  head  originated  many  good  ideas ;  and,  if  he 
could  have  carried  them  all  out,  the  world  would  have 
been  the  wiser  for  them. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HORACE  TRAVELS,   AND   ARRIVES   IN  NEW   TORS. 

Mr.  Grceley  moves  to  Pennsylvania.  —  He  leaves  Vermont.  —  Visits  his 
Father's  Log-Cabin.  —  Visits  Jamestown  for  Work.  —  Next  goes  to 
Erie.  —  His  Amusing  Reception.  —  Goes  to  Work.  —  A  Lady's  Opinioa 
of  him.  —  He  leaves  Erie.  —  His  Arrival  in  New  York.  —  His  finding  a 
Boarding-House.  —  Gets  into  an  Office.  —  Mr.  West's  Opinioa  of  him.  — 
His  Success  as  a  Typo.  —  Works  on  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Times.  '  —  Visits 
New  Hampshire.  —  A  Good  Dinner. 

ON  leaving  Poultney,  he  first  visited  his  father  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  had  so  distinguished  him- 
self among  his  acquaintances  in  Poultney,  that  the 
landlord  and  one  of  the  boarders  at  the  tavern  gave 
him  an  old  brown  overcoat.  It  was  the  first  ho  ever 
had.  They  gave  him  this  in  consideration  that  he 
was  poor,  had  been  among  them  four  years,  and  had 
never  given  them  any  trouble  ;  and,  as  an  additional 
cause,  they  had  learned  that  his  father  was  also  poor. 
In  June,  1830,  he  put  his  stick  through  his  little 
bundle  comprising  all  his  wardrobe,  and  left  Poultney. 
All  Nature  was  in  her  most  lovely  green.  When  he 
had  walked  fourteen  miles,  he  came  to  Comstock's 

6  61 


62  LIFE  OF  HOBACE  GREELEY. 

Fording ;  and  then,  partly  by  a  canal-boat,  and  partly 
on  foot,  he  made  his  way  to  Schenectady,  whence  he 
took  a  boat  on  the  Erie  Canal.  This  journey  of  six 
hundred  miles  took  him  a  week,  and  cost  him  seven 
dollars. 

On  arrival  at  his  father's  residence,  he  found  him 
in  a  small  log-cabin  (not  equal  to  many  built  to  elect 
William  H.  Harrison  in  1840,  and  which,  with  the 
ridicule  thrown  on  that  old  hero,  and  the  hard  cider 
which  he  lived  on,  did  elect  him)  situated  in  a  little 
clearing  he  had  made,  and  changed  to  a  backwoods- 
man. The  uprooted  and  half-burnt  stumps  pro- 
claimed the  labor  that  had  been  performed.  Any  one 
who  has  penetrated  the  back  counties  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, even  within  the  last  ten  years,  can  have  some 
idea  of  the  dense  forests,  hills  and  valleys,  and 
dens  and  caves,  of  this  desolate  region.  But,  at  that 
time,  deer,  wolves,  and  all  kinds  of  serpents,  inhabited 
these  gloomy  regions.  The  wolves  were  so  numerous 
and  bold,  that  they  would  prowl  around  in  packs,  and 
devour  all  the  sheep  they  could  catch.  Mr.  Greeley 
had  kept  sheep  in  Vermont,  and  tried  the  experiment 
here  ;  but,  after  having  at  least  a  hundred  killed  by 
these  wolves,  he  gave  it  up.  The  soil  was  good,  as  it 
generally  is  where  Quakers  and  wild  animals  make 
their  homes. 

Horace,  now  being  at  leisure,  spent  several  weeks 


TRAVELS,   AND   ARRIVES  IN  NEW  YORK.  63 

at  his  father's  'house,  aiding  his  father,  and  amusing 
himself  as  best  he  could.  At  this  time  his  leg  troubled 
him  considerably,  which  his  good  mother  nursed  to 
the  best  of  her  ability,  and  which  was  finally  cured  by 
an  old  doctor  who  lived  twenty-five  miles  off  from 
his  father's  home. 

Horace  could  not  be  quiet  long:  so  one  day  he 
walked  over  to  Jamestown,  where  a  newspaper  was 
being  printed,  to  get  work;  which  lie  did  :  but,  when 
Saturday  night  came,  no  pay  came  with  it.  After 
working  four  days  more,  and  seeing  no  prospect  of 
pay,  he  returned  home.  He  was  satisfied  he  could 
get  no  money  there.  His  next  trip  was  made  into 
the  State  of  New  York,  still  seeking  work.  He  went 
to  Lodi,  fifty  miles  from  his  father's  clearing.  Here 
he  found  employment  upon  a  Jackson  paper.  He 
was  now  twenty  years  old,  and  somewhat  of  a  poli- 
tician. He  calculated  chances  ;  but  he  failed  :  for  he 
wrote  to  his  friends  in  Vermont  that  Francis  Granger 
would  be  elected  governor  by  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  majority ;  but  he  was  not  elected  at  all.  He 
received  but  little  money  at  Lodi ;  and,  after  gaining 
some  reputation  as  a  smart  politician  and  an  excellent 
checker-player,  he  again  returned  home.  At  these 
places  he  found  work ;  but  he  did  not  find  the  cash. 

Soon  he  took  another  trip,  and  then  started  for  the 
town  of  Erie,  which  was  distant  thirty  miles,  on  the 


6-4  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

shore  of  the  lake  of  the  same  name.     Two  printing- 
offices  had  been  established  in  Erie,  and  it  was  a  larger 

town  than  those  he  had  visited ;  and  here  he  hoped 

• 

to  find  both  work  and  pay. 

He  still  wore  the  unoouth  garments  he  had  else- 
where ;  and,  of  course,  made  his  usual  grotesque  ap- 
pearance when  he  entered  Erie.  He  wore  the  same 
slouched  hat ;  he  carried  his  wardrobe  in  the  same 
red  cotton  handkerchief,  slung  over  his  shoulder  on  the 
same  stick.  He  noticed  nobody  as  he  made  his  way 
through  the  streets  of  this  rustic  town  to  the  office  of 
"  The  Erie  Gazette,"  which  was  a  weekly  paper,  pub- 
lished by  Joseph  M.  Sterritt. 

Mr.  Sterritt  afterwards  gave  the  following  account 
of  Horace  as  he  first  saw  him :  "  I  was  not  in  the 
printing-office  when  he  arrived :  I  came  in  soon  after, 
and  saw  him  sitting  at  the  table  reading  the  news- 
papers, and  so  absorbed  in  them,  that  he  paid  no  at- 
tention to  my  entrance.  My  first  feeling  was  one  of 
astonishment  that  a  fellow  so  singularly  green  in  his 
appearance  should  be  reading,  and,  above  all,  reading 
so  intently  I  looked  at  him  for  a  few  moments ;  and 
then,  finding  that  he  made  no  movement  towards  ac- 
quainting me  with  his  business,  I  took  up  my  compos- 
ing-stick, and  went  to  work.  He  continued  to  read 
for  twenty  minutes  or  more ;  when  he  got  up,  and, 
coming  close  to  my  case,  asked  in  his  peculiar 
whining  voice, — 


TRAVELS,   AND  ARRIVES  IN  NEW  YORK.  65 

"'Do  you  want  any  help  in  the  printing-business? ' 

" '  Why,'  said  I,  running  iny  eye  involuntarily  up 
and  down  the  extraordinary  figure,  '  did  you  ever 
work  at  the  trade  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,'  was  the  reply.  '  I  worked  some  at  it  in  an 
office  in  Vermont ;  and  I  should  be  willing  to  work 
under  instruction,  if  you  could  give  me  a  job.'  ' 

Mr.  Sterritt  supposed  him  to  be  a  runaway  appren- 
tice ;  and,  not  having  a  good  opinion  of  this  class,  he 
said  he  did  not  want  any  more  assistance  (which, 
by  the  way,  was  false),  and  Horace  departed  without 
saying  another  word. 

He  went  to  the  other  office,  and  met  with  no  better 
success  :  so  he  budged  home  again,  having  found  but 
little  comfort  in  this  journey.  Nevertheless,  some- 
thing did  come  out  of  this  tramp  ;  for  a  few  days  after 
it,  as  Mr.  Sterritt  related  the  affair,  "  An  acquaint- 
ance of  mine,  a  farmer,  called  at  the  office,  and  in- 
quired if  I  wanted  a  journeyman.  I  did.  He  said  a 
neighbor  of  his  had  a  son  who  learned  the  printing- 
business  somewhere  down  East,  and  wanted  a  place. 
*  What  sort  of  a  looking  fellow  is  he  ?  '  said  I.  He 
described  him ;  and  I  knew  at  once  that  he  was  my 
supposed  runaway  apprentice.  My  friend  the  farmer 
gave  him  a  high  character,  however :  so  I  said,  '  Send 
him  along ; '  and,  a  day  or  two  after,  along  he  came." 

He  went  to  work  at  his  own  terms  ;  that  is,  he  was 


66  LIFE  OF  HOBACE  GREELEY. 

to  try,  and  his  employer  was  to  pay  him  what  he 
pleased.  Report  says,  when  he  went  into  the  family 
of  his  employer  to  board,  a  lady  there  said,  "  Well, 
Mr.  Sterritt,  you've  hired  that  fellow  to  work  for  you, 
have  you  ?  Well,  you  won't  keep  him  three  days." 
Her  opinion,  however,  soon  changed,  as  did  that  of  all 
others  who  became  acquainted  with  the  lad. 

Mr.  Greeley  gives  the  following  account  of  his  en- 
gagement in  this  place  in  his  "  Recollections  of  a 
Busy  Life  :  "  "I  now  visited  Brie,  Penn.,  where  I  found 
work  in  the  office  of  '  The  Erie  Gazette,'  and  was 
retained  at  fifteen  dollars  per  month  well  into  the 
ensuing  summer.  This  was  the  first  newspaper 
whereon  I  was  employed  that  made  any  money  for 
its  owner,  and  thus  had  a  pecuniary  value.  It  had 
been  started  twenty  years  or  so  before,  when  borough 
and  county  were  both  thinly  peopled  almost  wholly 
by  poor  young  men  ;  and  it  had  grown  with  the  vici- 
nage, until  it  had  a  substantial,  profitable  patronage. 
Its  proprietor,  Mr.  Joseph  M.  Sterritt,  now  in  the 
prime  of  life,  had  begun  on  '  The  Gazette '  as  a  boy, 
and  grown  up  with  it  into  general  consideration  and 
esteem.  His  journeymen  and  apprentices  boarded  at 
his  house,  as  was  fit;  and  I  spent  here  five  months 
industriously  and  agreeably.  Though  still  a  raw  youth 
of  twenty  years,  and  knowing  no  one  in  the  borough 
when  I  thus  entered  it,  I  made  acquaintances  there 


TRAVELS,   AND  ARRIVES   IN   NEW   YORK.  67 

who  are  still  valued  friends  ;  and,  before  I  left,  I  was 
offered  a  partnership  in  the  concern,  which,  though 
I  had  reasons  for  declining,  was  none  the  less  flatter- 
ing as  a  mark  of  appreciation  and  confidence.  Mr. 
Sterritt  has  since  represented  his  district  acceptably 
in  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania ;  has  received  other 
proofs  of  the  trustful  regard  of  his  fellow-citizens ; 
and,  though  he  has  retired  from  '  The  Gazette,'  still 
lives  in  the  enjoyment  of  competence  and  general 
esteem." 

Mr.  Greeley  says  he  spent  five  months  in  this  office ; 
Mr.  Parton  says  he  spent  seven  months  there:  which  is 
correct  we  are  unable  to  say.  When  he  closed  his 
labor  there,  he  had  taken  up  but  six  dollars  of  his 
wages :  of  the  remainder  he  took  fifteen  dollars  in 
money,  and  a  note  for  the  rest.  He  now  made  his 
way  to  his  father's  cabin,  kept  the  fifteen  dollars,  and 
gave  the  note  to  his  father.  After  remaining  at  home 
a  few  days,  Horace  formed  the  bold  plan  of  visiting 
the  city  of  New  York. 

He  walked  to  the  Erie  Canal,  took  the  boat  at 
Buffalo,  and  went  to  Schenectady :  here  he  left  the 
canal,  and  walked  to  Albany.  Mr.  Greeley  says, 
"  Night  fell  when  I  was  about  half  way  over :  so  I 
sought  rest  in  one  of  the  many  indifferent  taverns  that 
then  lined  the  turnpike  in  question,  and  was  directed 
to  sleep  in  an  anteroom  through  which  people  were 


68  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

momently  passing.  I  declined,  and,  gathering  up  my 
handful  of  portables,  walked  on.  Half  a  mile  far- 
ther I  found  another  tavern,  not  quite  so  inhospi- 
table, and  managed  to  stay  hr  it  till  morning  ;  when  I 
rose,  and  walked  on  to  Albany.  Having  never  been 
in  that  city  before,  I  missed  the  nearest  way  to  the 
day-boat ;  and,  when  I  reached  the  landing,  it  was  two 
or  three  lengths  on  its  way  to  New  York,  having  left  at 
seven,  A.M.  I  had  no  choice  but  to  wait  for  another, 
which  started  at  ten,  A.M.,  towing  a  barge  on  either 
side ;  and  reached  in  twenty  hours  the  emporium, 
where  I,  after  a  good  view  of  the  city  as  we  passed  it 
down  the  river,  was  landed  near  Whitehall  at  six, 
A.M." 

New  York  then  contained  about  one-third  as  many 
inhabitants  as  it  does  now.  "  I  had  never  before  seen 
a  city,"  says  he,  "  containing  twenty  thousand,  nor  a 
sea-going  vessel." 

There  was  then  (1831)  not  a  railroad  in  the  land 
save  the  short  one  to  take  granite  from  the  Quincy 
ledges  to  the  water.  Not  an  ocean-steamer  visited 
any  of  our  ports. 

Mr.  Greeley  goes  on  :  "  I  was  now  twenty  years  old 
the  preceding  February ;  tall,  slender,  pale,  and  plain, 
with  ten  dollars  in  iny  ^pocket ;  summer  clothing, 
worth  perhaps  as  much  more,  nearly  all  on  my  back ; 
and  a  decent  knowledge  of  so  much  of  the  art  of 


TRAVELS,   AND   ARRIVES   IN  NEW  YORK.  69 

printing  as  a  boy  will  usually  get  in  the  office  of  a 
country  newspaper.  Bat  I  knew  no  human  being 
within  two  hundred  miles ;  and  my  unmistakably 
rustic  manner  and  address  did  not  favor  that  imme- 
diate command  of  remunerating  employment  which 
was  my  most  urgent  need.  However,  the  world  was 
all  before  me :  my  personal  estate,  tied  up  in  a  pocket- 
handkerchief,  did  not  at  all  encumber  me  ;  and  I 
stepped  lightly  off  the  boat,  and  away  from  the  de- 
tested hiss  of  escaping  steam,  walking  into  and  up 
Broad  Street  in  quest  of  a  boarding-house.  I  found 
and  entered  one  at  or  near  the  corner  of  Wall :  but 
the  price  of  board  given  me  was  six  dollars  per 
week ;  so  I  did  not  need  the  giver's  candidly  kind 
suggestion,  that  I  would  probably  prefer  one  where 
the  charge  was  more  moderate.  Wandering  thence,  I 
cannot  say  how,  to  the  North-river  side,  I  halted  next 
at  168  West  Street,  where  the  sign  of '  Boarding '  on  a 
humbler  edifice  fixed  my  attention.  I  entered,  and 
was  offered  shelter  and  subsistence  at  two  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  per  week,  which  seemed  more  rational ; 
and  I  closed  the  bargain. 

"  My  host  was  Mr.  Edward  McGolrick,  his  place  quite 
as  much  grog-shop  as  boarding-house ;  but  it  was 
quietly,  decently  kept  while  I  staid  in  it,  and  he  and 
his  family  were  kind  and  friendly.  I  regret  to  add 
that  liquor  proved  his  ruin  not  many  years  after- 


70  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

ward.  My  first  day  in  New  York  was  a  Friday  ;  and, 
the  family  being  Roman  Catholic,  no  meat  was  eaten 
or  provided,  which  I  understood  :  but,  when  Sunday 
evening  was  celebrated  by  unlimited  card-playing  in 
that  same  house,  my  traditions  were  decidedly  jarred. 
I  do  not  imply  that  my  observances  were  better  or 
worse  than  my  host's,  but  that  they  were  different. 
Having  breakfasted,  I  began  to  ransack  the  city  for 
work,  and,  in  my  total  ignorance,  traversed  many  streets 
where  none  could  possibly  be  found.  In  the  course  of 
that  day  and  the  next,  however,  I  must  have  visited 
fully  two-thirds  of  the  printing-offices  on  Manhattan 
Island,  without  a  gleam  of  success.  It  was  midsum- 
mer, when  business  in  New  York  is  habitually  dull ; 
and  my  youth,  and  unquestionable  air  of  country  green- 
ness, must  have  told  against  me.  When  I  called  at 
'  The  Journal  of  Commerce,'  its  editor,  Mr.  David 
Hale,  bluntly  told  rne  I  was  a  runaway  apprentice  from 
some  country  office ;  which  was  a  very  natural  though 
mistaken  presumption.  I  returned  to  my  lodging  on 
Saturday  evening,  thoroughly  weary,  disheartened, 
disgusted  with  New  York,  and  resolved  to  shake  its 
dust  from  my  feet  next  Monday  morning,  while  I 
could  still  leave  with  money  in  my  pocket,  and  before 
its  alrnshouse  could  foreclose  upon  me." 

But  this  was  not  to  take  place ;  for  Horace  Greeley 
had  work  to   do  in  New  York.      On  Sunday,  some 


TRAVELS,   AND   ARRIVES  IN  NEW  YORK.  71 

young  Irishmen  came  to  McGolrick's ;  and,  learning 
that  Mr.  Greeley  was  a  young  printer  in  search  of 
employment,  they  became  interested  in  his  case,  and 
one  of  them  happened  to  know  of  a  place  where  they 
wanted  printers.  So  Mr»  Greeley  visited  the  place 
next  morning,  and  readily  found  work.  He  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  rising  early,  and  was  at  the  printing- 
office  of  Mr.  West  long  before  any  one  appeared  who 
was  connected  with  the  work.  McElrath  and  Bangs 
were  publishers,  and  John  T.  West  did  their  printing. 
Horace  waited  on  the  steps  at  85  Chatham  Street  what 
seemed  to  him  a  long  time  before  any  one  came.  At 
length,  one  of  the  journeymen  came.  The  door  being 
still  locked,  he  sat  down  on  the  steps,  and  entered  into 
conversation  with  Horace.  He  related  his  condition, 
his  necessity,  his  great  want  of  employment.  The 
man  was  from  Vermont ;  and,  becoming  interested  in  his 
fellow  Vermonter,  he  determined  to  assist  him,  which 
he  did  very  efficiently.  He  took  Horace  to  the  fore- 
man ;  and,  though  the  appearance  of  the  new-comer 
was  against  him,  through  the  intercession  of  his  new 
friend  the  journeyman  the  foreman  set  him  to  work. 
It  was,  however,  upon  a  hard  job,  —  the  composition  of 
a  polyglot  Testament.  Two  or  three  had  worked  upon 
the  same,  and  given  it  up  as  "  a  bad  job  ;"  and  the  fore- 
man had  not  the  least  idea  that  he  would  succeed  ;  but 
as  he  wanted  the  work  done,  and  wished  also  to  oblige 


72  LITE  OF  HOKACE  GREELEY. 

his  journeyman,  who  was  a  clever  fellow,  he  told  him 
to  "  fix  him  up  a  case,"  and  set  him  at  work. 

An  hour  or  two  later,  Mr.  West  came  into  the  office  ; 
and,  after  taking  a  survey  of  the  new-comer,  he  said 
to  the  foreman,  — 

"  Did  you  hire  that  fool  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  foreman.  "  We  need  help,  and 
he  was  the  best  I  could  get." 

"  Well,"  continued  West,  "  pay  him  off  to-night,  and 
send  him  about  his  business." 

This  command  would  doubtless  have  been  obeyed 
but  for  the  fact  that  Horace  presented  at  night  a  bet- 
ter "  proof,"  and  much  more  of  it,  than  either  of  the 
others  that  had  worked  on  the  same  job.  The  fore- 
man was  astonished,  and  did  not  indulge  the  thought 
of  sending  him  away  a  moment. 

Of  this  job  Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  This  work  was  at  my 
call  simply  because  no  printer  who  knew  the  city 
would  accept  it." 

After  leaving  the  office  of  Mr.  West,  Horace  found 
work  on  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Times."  This  was  a 
sporting-paper,  published  by  Messrs.  Porter  and  Howe. 
Here,  through  that  dreary  summer  (1832),  Horace 
worked  at  very  small  wages.  The  whole  business  of 
New  York  was  paralyzed  by  fear  of  the  cholera. 

In  October,  1832,  Horace  visited  his  friends  in  New 
Hampshire.  He  had  a  hard  time  walking  over  a  con- 


TRAVELS,   AND   ARRIVES  IN  NEW  YORK.  73 

siderable  part  of  the  State  through  rain  and  sun. 
His  relatives  were  scattered  over  all  the  lower  part  of 
the  Granite  State,  and  into  Vermont.  His  visiting 
was  as  hard  as  his  finding  employment  in  New  York 
had  been.  One  may  judge  of  his  trials  on  this  jour- 
ney by  what  he  says  in  the  following  sentence :  "  I 
met  one  poor  soul  who  had  a  horse  and  wagon,  and 
heartily  pitied  him.  He  could  hardly  ride,  while  my 
walk  was  far  easier  and  less  anxious  than  his." 

At  Stoddard,  having  breakfasted  early  and  walked 
long,  Horace  says,  "  I  stepped  into  a  convenient  tavern, 
and  called  for  dinner.  My  breakfast  had  been  quite 
early.  The  keen  air  and  rough  walk  had  freshened 
my  appetite."  I  was  shown  into  a  dining-room  with  a 
well-spread  table,  and  left  to  help  myself.  There  were 
steaks,  chickens,  coffee,  pies,  &c.  I  did  ample  justice 
to  all.  '  "What  is  to  pay  ? '  I  asked  the  landlord  on 
re-entering  the  bar-room.  '  Dinner  eighteen  and 
three-quarter  cents,'  he  replied.  I  laid  down  the  re- 
quired sum,  and  stepped  off,  mentally  resolving  that  I 
would,  iii  mercy  to  that  tavern,  never  patronize  it 
again." 

7 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GREELEY  COMMENCES  BUSINESS. 

Horace  in  the  "  Watch-Honse."  —  Greeley  driven  to  New  York.  —  "  The 
Morning  Post"  fails.  —  He  appeals  in  Vain  to  his  Subscribers  to  pay. 
—  His  Honesty  and  Integrity.  —  His  Editorial  Luxuries.  —  Interview 
with  the  Wrathy  Quack.  —  Horace's  Poetry.  —  "  The  New-Yorker."  — 
"  The  Jeffersonian."  —  "  The  Log-Cabin."  —  His  Marriage.  —  His  Wed- 
ding-Tour. —  He  cuts  up  Fashions  and  Opinions.  —  His  Activity  in  the 
Campaign  of  1840.  —  He  asked  for  no  Office. 

HORACE  had  now  wandered  about,  as  a  Yankee 
would  say,  "  pretty  considerably."  He  had 
lived  cheaply,  dressed  poorly,  worked  hard,  and  laid 
up  little ;  he  had  been  laughed  at  by  his  fellow- 
"  typos;"  accounted  a  runaway  apprentice  by  such 
men  as  Judge  Sterritt  and  David  Hale ;  and  on  the 
occasion  of  his  landlord's  moving  on  the  first  day  of 
May,  as  all  poor  "  folk  "  do  in  "  Gotham,"  he  had  got 
into  the  watch-house.  I  must  give  his  own  description 
of  this  case,  as  it  seems  to  have  been  about  the  first 
piece  he  wrote  in  New  York ;  for  it  was  published  in 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Times,"  May  5,  1832 :  — 

"  Messrs.  Editors,  —  Hear  me  you  shall,  pity  me 

74 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  75 

you  must,  while  I  proceed  to  give  a  short  account  of 
the  dread  calamities  which  this  vile  habit  of  turning 
the  whole  city  upside-down,  'tother  side  out,  and  wrong 
side  before,  on  the  1st  of  May,  has  brought  down  on 
my  devoted  head. 

"  You  must  Know,  that,  having  resided  but  a  few 
months  in  your  city,  I  was  totally  ignorant  of  the 
existence  of  said  custom.  So,  on  the  morning  of  the 
eventful,  and  to  me  disastrous  day,  I  rose,  according 
to  immemorial  usage,  at  dying-away  of  the  last  echo 
of  the  breakfast-bell,  and  soon  found  myself  seated 
over  my  coffee,  and  my  good  landlady  exercising  her 
powers  of  volubility  (no  weak  ones)  apparently  in  my 
behalf;  but  so  deep  was  the  revery  in  which  my  half- 
awakened  brain  was  then  engaged,  that  I  did  not  catch 
a  single  idea  from  the  whole  of  her  discourse.  I 
smiled,  and  said,  '  Yes,  ma'am,'  '  Certainly,  ma'am,' 
at  each  pause;  and,  having  speedily  despatched  my 
breakfast,  sallied  immediately  out,  and  proceeded  to 
attend  to  the  business  which  engrossed  my  mind. 
Dinner-time  came,  but  no  time  for  dinner ;  and  it  was 
late  before  I  was  at  liberty  to  wend  my  way,  over 
wheel-barrows,  barrels,  and  all  manner  of  obstructions, 
towards  my  boarding-house.  All  here  was  still :  but, 
by  the  help  of  my  night>-keys,  I  soon  introduced  myself 
to  my  chamber,  dreaming  of  nothing  but  sweet  repose ; 
when,  horrible  to  relate,  my  ears  were  instantaneously 


76  LIFE   OF   HOEACE   GREELEY. 

saluted  by  a  most  piercing  female  shriek,  proceeding 
exactly  from  my  own  bed,  or  at  least  from  the  place 
where  it  should  have  been ;  and  scarcely  had  sufficient 
time  elapsed  for  my  hair  to  bristle  on  my  head  before 
the  shriek  was  answered  by  the  loud  vociferations  of  a 
ferocious  mastiff  in  the  kitchen  beneath,  and  re-echoed 
by  the  outcries  of  half  a  dozen  inmates  of  the  house, 
and  these  again  succeeded  by  the  rattle  of  the  watch- 
man ;  and  the  next  moment  there  was  a  round  dozen 
of  them  (besides  the  dog)  at  my  throat,  and  command- 
ing me  to  tell  them  instantly  what  the  devil  all  this 
meant. 

" '  You  do  well  to  ask  that,'  sajd  I  as  soon  as  I  could 
speak,  '  after  falling  upon  me  in  this  fashion  in  my  own 
chamber.' 

"  '  Oh  !  take  him  off,'  said  the  one  who  assumed  to 
be  the  master  of  the  house.  '  Perhaps  he's  not  a  thief, 
after  all ;  but,  being  too  tipsy  for  starlight,  he  has 
made  a  mistake  in  trying  to  find  his  lodgings.'  And,  in 
spite  of  all  my  remonstrances,  I  was  forthwith  marched 
off  to  the  watch-house  to  pass  the  remainder  of  the 
night.  In  the  morning  I  narrowly  escaped  commit- 
ment on  the  charge  of  '  burglary  with  intent  to  steal ' 
(I  verily  believe  it  would  have  gone  hard  with  me  if 
the  witnesses  could  have  been  got  there  at  that  un- 
seasonable hour) ;  and  I  was  finally  discharged  with  a 
solemn  admonition  to  guard  for  the  future  against 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  77 

intoxication.     Think  of  that,  sir,  for  a  member  of  the 
Cold-water  Society ! 

"  I  spent  the  next  day  in  unravelling  the  mystery, 
and  found  that  my  landlord  had  removed  his  goods 
and  chattels  to  another  part  of  the  city  on  the  estab- 
lished day,  supposing  me  to  be  previously  acquainted 
and  satisfied  with  his  intention  of  so  doing,  and  another 
family  had  immediately  taken  his  place ;  of  which 
changes  my  absence  of  mind,  and  absence  from  dinner, 
had  kept  me  ignorant,  and  thus  had  I  been  led  blind- 
fold into  a  '  Comedy  (or  rather  tragedy)  of  Errors.' 
"  Your  unfortunate 

"  TIMOTHY  WIGGINS." 

There  is  a  kind  of  self-complacency  in  one's  going 
into  business  for  one's  self,  somewhat  like  what  a 
young  man  feels  when  he  gets  married.  Before  he 
was  but  half  a  man,  or  what'Dr.  Franklin  called  "  the 
half  of  a  pair  of  scissors  :  "  now  he  is  the  head  of  a 
family.  So  while  a  journeyman,  though  it  be  all  well 
enough,  yet  he  is  only  an  irresponsible  agent ;  but 
now,  being  the  head,  boss,  or  responsible  man  of  a 
concern,  he  cannot  but  feel  himself  to  be  "  some- 
body." 

.  Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  Having  been  fairly  driven  to 
New  York  two  or  three  years  earlier  than  I  deemed 
desirable,  I  was  in  like  manner  impelled  to  undertake 


78  LIFE  OF  HOKACE   GREELEY. 

the  responsibilities  of  business  while  still  in  my  twenty- 
second  year." 

A  young  man  by  the  name  of  Story,  a  friend  of 
Greeley's,  and  but  twenty-three  years  old,  had  imbibed 
the  idea  of  starting  a  printing-office.  Story  was  the 
son  of  a  poor  widow :  but  he  knew  more  of  the  crooks 
and  turns  of  New  York  than  Horace  did ;  for  he  had 
worked  on  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Times,"  and  thus  became 
acquainted  with  the  sporting  gentry,  and  with  a  Mr. 
Sylvester,  a  leading  broker,  and  seller  of  lottery-tickets, 
in  Wall  Street ;  and  through  him  and  Dr.  W.  Beach 
and  a  Dr.  Shepard  (who  had  some  money  fall  to  him) 
Story  was  induced  to  start  a  cheap  daily  newspaper,  and 
offered  to  take  in  Horace  as  a  partner.  Horace  hesi- 
tated, as  he  had  but  little  capital,  having  aided  his 
father  by  sending  him  all  that  he  could  well  spare  ; 
but  was  finally  induced  to  go  into  the  business  with 
Story,  whose  .enthusiasm  was  considerable.  So  the 
new  firm,  Story  and  Greeley,  published  "  The  Morning 
Post,"  a  one-cent  daily.  The  first  number  appeared 
Jan.  15,  1833. 

This  paper  failed.  Then  Mr.  Greeley  worked  some 
on  "  The  Commercial  Advertiser,"  and  was  offered  a 
partnership  there,  but  declined  it.  His  partner,  Mr. 
Story,  was  drowned  about  this  time.  His  place  was 
taken  by  a  Mr.  Winchester,  a  brother  -  iii  -  law  of 
Story. 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  79 

March  22,  1834,  they  issued  "  The  New-Yorker." 
Mr.  Greeley  was  the  editor.  It  was  a  large,  fair, 
and  cheap  weekly  folio.  Mr.  Greeley,  in  his  "  Recol- 
lections of  a  Busy  Life,"  says,  "  Though  not  calcu- 
lated to  enlist  partisanship  or  excite  enthusiasm,  it 
was  at  length  extensively  liked  and  read.  It  began 
with  scarcely  a  dozen  subscribers ;  these  steadily 
increased  to  nine  thousand :  and  it  might,  under 
better  business-management  (perhaps  I  should  add, 
at  a  more  favorable  time),  have  proved  profitable 
and  permanent.  That  it  did  not  was  mainly  owing 
to  these  circumstances:  1.  It  was  not  extensively 
advertised  at  the  start,  and  at  least  annually  there- 
after, as  it  should  have  been.  2.  It  was  never  really 
published,  though  it  had  half  a  dozen  nominal  pub- 
lishers in  succession.  3.  It  was  sent  to  subscribers 
on  credit ;  and  a  large  share  of  them  never  paid  for  it, 
and  never  will ;  while  the  cost  of  collecting  from  others 
ate  up  the  proceeds.  4.  The  machinery  of  railroads, 
expresses,  news-companies,  news-offices,  <fec.,  whereby 
literary  periodicals  are  now  disseminated,  did  not  then 
exist.  I  believe  that  just  such  a  paper  issued  to-day, 
properly  published  and  advertised,  would  obtain  a 
circulation  of  a  hundred  thousand  in  less  time  than 
was  required  to  give  '  The  New-Yorker '  scarcely  a 
tithe  of  that  aggregate,  and  would  make  money  for 
its  owners,  instead  of  nearly  starving  them  as  mine 


80  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

did.  I  was  worth  at  least  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
when  it  was  started.  I  worked  hard  and  lived  fru- 
gally throughout  its  existence.  It  subsisted  for  the 
first  two  years  on  the  profits  of  our  job-work  ;  when  I, 
deeming  it  established,  dissolved  with  my  partner, 
he  taking  the  jobbing-business,  and  I  '  The  New- 
Yorker,'  which  held  its  own  pretty  fairly  thenceforth 
till  the  commercial  revulsion  of  1837  swept  over  the 
land,  whelming  it  and  me  in  the  general  ruin.  I  had 
married  in  1836  (July  5),  deeming  myself  worth 
five  thousand  dollars,  and  the  master  of  a  business 
which  would  thenceforth  'yield  me  for  my  labor  at 
least  a  thousand  dollars  per  annum ;  but  instead 
of  that,  or  of  any  income  at  all,  I  found  myself 
obliged  throughout  1837  to  confront  a  net  loss  of 
about  a  hundred  dollars  per  week,  —  my  income 
averaging  a  hundred  dollars,  and  my  expenses  two 
hundred  dollars.  It  was  in  vain  that  I  appealed  to 
delinquents  to  pay  up.  Many  of  them  migrated ; 
some  died  ;  others  were  so  considerate  as  to  order  the 
paper  stopped,  but  very  few  of  these  paid :  and  I 
struggled  on  against  a  steadily-rising  tide  of  adversity 
that  might  have  appalled  a  stouter  heart.  Often 
did  I  call  on  this  or  that  friend  with  intent  to 
solicit  a  small  loan  to  meet  some  demand  that  could 
no  longer  be  postponed  nor  evaded,  and,  after  wast- 
ing a  precious  hour,  leave  him,  utterly  unable  to 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  81 

broach  the  loathsome  topic.  I  have  borrowed  five 
hundred  dollars  of  a  broker  late  on  Saturday,  and 
paid  him  five  dollars  for  the  use  of  it  till  Monday 
morning,  when  I  somehow  contrived  to  return  it. 
Most  gladly  would  I  have  terminated  the  struggle  by 
a  surrender:  but,  if  I  had  failed  to  pay  my  notes 
continually  falling  due,  I  must  have  paid  money  for 
my  weekly  supply  of  paper ;  so  that  would  have 
availed  nothing.  To  have  stopped  my  journal  (for 
I  could  not  give  it  away)  would  have  left  me  in 
debt,  besides  my  notes  for  paper  —  from  fifty  cents  to 
two  dollars  each  —  to  at  least  three  thousand  subscrib- 
ers who  had  paid  in  advance  ;  and  that  is  the  worst 
kind  of  bankruptcy.  If  any  one  would  have  taken 
my  business  and  debts  off  my  hands  upon  my  giv- 
ing him  my  note  for  two  thousand  dollars,  I  would 
have  jumped  at  the  chance,  and  tried  to  work  out  the 
debt  by  setting  type  if  nothing  better  offered.  If  it 
be  suggested  that  my  whole  indebtedness  was  at  no 
time  more  than  five  thousand  to  seven  thousand 
dollars,  I  have  only  to  say  that  even  a  thousand 
dollars  of  debt  is  ruin  to  him  who  feels  keenly 
his  obligation  to  fulfil  every  engagement,  yet  is  ut- 
terly without  the  means  of  so  doing,  and  who  finds 
himself  dragged  each  week  a  little  deeper  into  hope- 
less insolvency.  To  be  hungry,  ragged,  and  penni- 
less, is  nut  pleasant ;  but  this  is  nothing  to  the  horrors 


82  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

of  bankruptcy.  All  the  wealth  of  the  Rothschilds 
would  be  a  poor  recompense  for  a  five-years'  struggle 
with  the  consciousness  that  you  had  taken  the  money 
or  property  of  trusting  friends,  —  promising  to  return 
or  pay  for  it  when  required,  —  and  had  betrayed  their 
confidence  through  insolvency. 

"  I  dwell  on  this  point ;  for  I  would  deter  others 
from  entering  that  place  of  torment.  Half  the 
young  men  in  the  country,  with  many  old  enough  to 
know  better,  would  '  go  into  business '  —  that  is, 
into  debt  —  to-morrow  if  they  could.  Most  poor 
men  are  so  ignorant  as  to  envy  the  merchant  or 
manufacturer,  whose  life  is  an  incessant  struggle 
with  pecuniary  difficulties ;  who  is  driven  to  con- 
stant 'shinning;'  and  who,  from  month  to  month, 
barely  evades  that  insolvency,  which,  sooner  or  later, 
overtakes  most  men  in  business  :  so  that  it  has  been 
computed  that  but  one  in  twenty  of  them  achieves  a 
pecuniary  success.  For  my  own  part,  —  and  I  speak 
from  sad  experience,  —  I  would  rather  be  a  convict  in 
a  State  prison,  a  slave  in  a  rice-swamp,  than  to  pass 
through  life  under  the  harrow  of  debt.  Let  no 
young  man  misjudge  himself  unfortunate,  or  truly 
poor,  so  long  as  he  has  the  full  use  of  his  limbs  and 
faculties,  and  is  substantially  free  from  debt.  Hun- 
ger, cold,  rags,  hard  work,  contempt,  suspicion, 
unjust  reproach,  are  disagreeable ;  but  debt  is  infi- 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  83 

nitely  worse  than  them  all.  And,  if  it  had  pleased 
God  to  spare  either  or  all  of  my  sons  to  be  the  sup- 
port and  solace  of  my  declining  years,  the  lesson 
which  I  should  have  most  earnestly  sought  to  im- 
press upon  them  is,  '  Never  run  into  debt.  Avoid 
pecuniary  obligation  as  you  would  pestilence  or 
famine.  If  you  have  but  fifty  cents,  and  can  get  no 
more  for  a  week,  buy  a  peck  of  corn,  parch  it,  and 
live  on  it,  rather  than  owe  any  man  a  dollar.'  Of 

course,  I  know  that  some  men  must  do  business  that 

i 

involves  risks,  and  must  often  give  notes  and  other 
obligations  ;  and  I  do  not  consider  him  really  in  debt 
who  can  lay  his  hands  directly  on  the  means  of  pay- 
ing, at  some  little  sacrifice,  all  he  owes.  I  speak 
of  real  debt,  —  that  which  involves  risk  or  sacrifice 
on  the  one  side,  obligation  and  dependence  on  the 
other ;  and  I  say,  *  From  all  such  let  every  youth 
humbly  pray  God  to  preserve  him  evermore.'  " 

This  shows  Mr.  Greeley's  honesty ;  for  he  made 
good  every  dollar  he  owed  to  the  subscribers  of  "  The 
New-Yorker."  He  complained,  and  justly,  of  some 
of  his  subscribers,  in  the  following  language :  "  I 
stopped  '  The  New-Yorker '  Sept.  20,  1841,  and  shut 
up  its  books,  whereon  were  inscribed  some  ten  thousand 
dollars,  owed  me  in  sums  of  from  one  to  ten  dollars 
each  by  men  to  whose  service  I  had  devoted  the  best 
years  of  my  life,  — years  that,  though  full  of  labor  and 


84  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

frugal  care,  might  have  been  happy,  had  they  not  been 
made  wretched  by  those  men's  dishonesty." 

Mr.  Greeley's  experience  in  this  paper  was  that 
only  which  many  others  have  had  wlio  have  ever  been 
guilty  of  publishing  a  paper.  Hence  his  advice,  above 
quoted,  should  be  treasured  up  by  every  young  man 
who  attempts  to  start  a  new  paper. 

A  specimen  or  two  of  his  articles  and  rencounters 
while  editor  of  "  The  New-Yorker  "  may  interest  the 
reader.  In  an  article  entitled  "  Editorial  Luxuries  " 
he  wrote,  "  We  love  not  the  ways  of  that  numerous 
class  of  malecontents  who  are  perpetually  finding  fault 
with  their  vocation,  and  endeavoring  to  prove  them- 
selves the  most  miserable  dogs  in  existence.  If  they 
really  think  so,  why  under  the  sun  do  they  not  aban- 
don their  present  evil  ways,  and  endeavor  to  hit  upon 
something  more  endurable  ?  Nor  do  we  deem  these 
grumblers  more  plentiful  among  the  brethren  of 
the  quill  than  in  other  professions,  simply  because 
the  groanings  uttered  through  the  press  are  more 
widely  circulated  than  when  merely  breathed  to  the 
night-air  of  some  unsympathizing  friend  who  forgets 
all  about  them  the  next  minute.  But  we  do  think 
the  whole  business  is  in  most  ridiculously  bad  taste. 
An  apostle  teaches  us  of  '  groanings  which  cannot  be 
•  uttered  : '  it  would  be  a  great  relief  to  readers  if 
editorial  groanings  were  of  this  sort.  Now,  we  pride 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  85 

ourselves  rather  on  the  delights  of  our  profession ; 
and  we  rejoice  to  say  that  we  find  them  neither  few 
nor  inconsiderable.  There  is  one  which  even  now 
flitted  across  our  path,  which,  to  tell  the  truth,  was 
rather  above  the  average;  in  fact,  so  good,  that  we 
cannot  afford  to  monopolize  it,  even  though  we  shall 
be  constrained  to  allow  our  reader  a  peep  behind  the 
curtain.  So  here  it  is :  — 

[SCENE.  —  Editorial  Sanctum.  Editor  solus  ;  i.e.,  immersed  in 
thought  and  newspapers,  with  a  journal  in  one  hand,  busify 
spoiling  white  paper  with  the  other;  only  two  particular 
friends  talking  to  him  at  each  elbow.  Devil  calls  for  "  copy  "  at 
momentary  intervals.  Enter  a  butternut-colored  gentleman, 
who  bows  most  emphatically.] 

"  G-ent.  —  Are  you  the  editor  of '  The  New-Yorker,' 
sir? 

"  Editor.  —  The  same,  sir,  at  your  service. 

"  G-ent.  —  Did  you  write  this,  sir  ? 

"  Editor.  —  (  Takes  his  scissored  extract,  and  reads.) 
'  So,  when  we  hear  the  brazen  vender  of  quack- 
remedies  boldly  trumpeting  his  miraculous  cures,  or 
the  announcement  of  the  equally  impudent  experi- 
menter on  public  credulity  (Goward)  who  announces 
that  he  "  teaches  music  in  six  lessons,  and  half  a 
dozen  distinct  branches  of  science  in  as  many  weeks," 
we  may  be  grieved,  and  even  indignant,  that  such 

8 


86  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GBEELEY. 

palpable  deceptions  of  the  simple  and  unwary  should 
not  be  discountenanced  and  exposed.' 

"  That  reads  like  me,  sir.  I  do  not  remember  the 
passage  ;  but,  if  you  found  it  in  the  editorial  columns 
of  '  The  New-Yorker,'  I  certainly  did  write  it. 

"  Gent.  —  It  was  in  No.  15,  *  The  March  of  Hum- 
bug.' 

"  Editor.  —  Ah  !  now  I  recollect  it :  there  is  no  mis- 
take in  my  writing  that  article. 

"  G-ent.  —  Did  you  allude  to  me,  sir,  in  those  re- 
marks ? 

"  Editor.  —  You  will  perceive  that  the  name 
'  Goward '  has  been  introduced  by  yourself:  there 
is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  my  paper. 

"  Gent.  —  Yes,  sir ;  but  I  wish  to  know  whether 
you  intended  those  remarks  to  apply  to  me. 

"  Editor.  —  Well,  sir,  without  pretending  to  recol- 
lect exactly  what  I  may  have  been  thinking  of  while 
writing  an  article  three  months  ago,  I  will  frankly 
say,  that  I  think  I  must  have  had  you  in  my  eye 
while  penning  that  paragraph. 

"  G-ent.  —  Well,  sir,  do  you  know  that  such  re- 
marks are  grossly  unjust  and  impertinent  to  me  ? 

"  Editor.  —  I  know  nothing  of  you,  sir,  but  from 
the  testimony  of  friends,  and  your  own  advertisement 
in  the  papers  ;  and  these  combine  to  assure  me  that 
you  are  a  quack. 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  87 

"  Gent.  —  That  is  what  my  enemies  say,  sir ;  but 
if  you  examine  my  certificates,  sir,  you  will  know  the 
contrary. 

"  Editor.  — I  am  open  to  conviction,  sir. 

"  Gent.  —  Well,  sir,  I  have  been  advertising  in 
'  The  Traveller  '  for  some  time,  and  have  paid  them  a 
great  deal  of  money ;  and  here  they  come  out  this 
week  and  abuse  me :  so  I  have  done  with  them.  And 
now,  if  you  will  say  you  will  not  attack  me  in  this 
fashion,  I  will  patronize  you  (holding  out  some  tempt- 
ing advertisements). 

"  Editor.  —  Well,  sir,  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  ad- 
vertise for  you  ;  but  I  can  give  no  pledge  as  to  the 
course  I  shall  feel  bound  to  pursue. 

"  Gent.  —  Then  I  suppose  you  will  continue  to  call 
me  a  quack. 

"  Editor.  —  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  accustomed  to 
attack  my  friends  and  patrons ;  but,  if  I  have  occasion 
to  speak  of  you  at  all,  it  shall  be  in  such  terms  as  my 
best  judgment  shall  dictate. 

"  Gent. — Then  I  am  to  understand  you  as  my 
enemy  ? 

"  Editor.  —  Understand  me  as  you  please,  sir :  I 
shall  endeavor  to  treat  you  and  all  men  with  fairness. 

"  Gent.  —  But  do  you  suppose  I  am  going  to  pay 
money  to  those  who  ridicule  me,  and  hold  me  up  as  a 
quack  ? 


88  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

"  Editor.  —  You  will  pay  it  where  you  please,  sir :  I 
must  enjoy  my  opinions. 

"  Gent.  —  Well,  but  is  a  man  to  be  judged  by  what 
his  enemies  say  of  him  ?  Every  man  has  his  enemies. 

4i  Editor.  —  I  hope  not,  sir  :  I  trust  I  have  not  an 
enemy  in  the  world. 

"  Gent.  —  Yes,  you  have :  I'm  your  enemy,  and 
the  enemy  of  every  one  who  misrepresents  me !  I  can 
get  no  justice  from  the  press,  except  among  the  penny 
dailies.  I'll  start  a  paper  myself  before  a  year.  I'll 
show  that  some  folks  can  edit  newspapers  as  well  as 
others. 

"  Editor.  —  The  field  is  open,  sir :  go  ahead  !  " 

[Exit  in  a  rage  Rev.  J.  R.  Goward,  teacher  (in  six  lessons)  of 
every  thing.] 

While  publishing  "  The  New-Yorker,"  Mr.  Greeley 
tried  his  hand  at  poetry.  He  has  published  in  all  some 
forty  poems,  about  half  of  which  appeared  in  "  The 
New-Yorker."  The  following  was  composed  on  the 
death  of  William  Wirt :  — 

Rouse  not  the  muffled  drum, 
Wake  not  the  martial  trumpet's  mournful  sound, 
For  him  whose  mighty  voice  in  death  is  dumb ; 
Who,  in  the  zenith  of  his  high  renown, 

To  the  grave  went  down. 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  89 

Invoke  no  cannon's  breath 
To  swell  the  requiem  o'er  his  ashes  poured  : 
Silently  bear  him  to  the  house  of  death. 
The  aching  hearts  by  whom  he  was  adored 

He  won  not  with  the  sword. 

No  !  let  affection's  tear 
Be  the  sole  tribute  to  his  memory  paid : 
Earth  has  no  monument  so  justly  dear 
To  souls  like  his  in  purity  arrayed, 

Never  to  fade. 

I  loved  thee,  patriot  chief  I 
I  battled  proudly  'neath  thy  banner  pure  : 
Mine  is  the  breast  of  woe,  the  heart  of  grief, 
Which  suffer  on,  unmindful  of  a  cure,  — 

Proud  to  endure. 


But  vain  the  voice  of  wail 
For  thee  from  this  dim  vale  of  sorrow  fled  : 
Earth  has  no  spell  whose  magic  shall  not  fail 
To  light  the  gloom  that  shrouds  thy  narrow  bed, 

Or  woo  thee  from  the  dead. 


Then  take  thy  long  repose 
Beneath  the  shelter  of  the  deep  green  sod  : 
Death  but  a  brighter  halo  o'er  thee  throws  : 
Thy  fame,  thy  soul,  alike  have  spurned  the  clod. 

Rest  thee  in  God  1 
8* 


90  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

One  other  poem  we  select,  which  was  published  in 
"  The  Southern  Literary  Messenger,"  August,  1840 :  — 

THE   FADED   STARS. 

I  mind  the  time  when  heaven's  high  dome 

Woke  in  my  soul  a  wondrous  thrill ; 
.  When  every  leaf  in  Nature's  tome 

Bespoke  creation's  marvels  still ; 
When  mountain-cliff  and  sweeping  glade, 

As  Morn  unclosed  her  rosy  bars, 
Woke  joys  intense  :  but  nought  e'er  bade 

My  heart  leap  up,  like  you,  bright  stars  f 

Calm  ministrants  to  God's  high  glory, 

Pure  gems  around  his  burning  throne, 
Mute  watchers  o'er  man's  strange,  sad  stoiy 

Of  crime  and  woe  through  ages  gone, 
'Twas  yours  ^he  mild  and  hallowing  spell 

That  lured  me  from  ignoble  gleams, 
Taught  me  where  sweeter  fountains  swell 

Than  ever  bless  the  worldling's  dreams. 

How  changed  was  life  !  —  a  waste  no  more 

Beset  by  want  and  pain  and  wrong  : 
Earth  seemed  a  glad  and  fairy  shore, 

Vocal  with  Hope's  inspiring  song. 
But,  ye  bright  sentinels  of  heaven, 

Far  glories  of  night's  radiant  sky, 
Who,  as  ye  gemmed  the  brow  of  even, 

Has  ever  deemed  man  born  to  die  ? 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  91 

"Tis  faded  now,  that  wondrous  grace 
That  once  on  heaven's  forehead  shone : 

• 

I  read  no  more  in  Nature's  face 

A  soul  responsive  to  my  own. 
A  dimness  on  my  eye  and  spirit 

Stern  Time  has  cast  in  hurrying  by  : 
Few  joys  my  hardier  years  inherit ; 

And  leaden"  dulness  rules  the  sky. 

Yet  mourn  not  I:  a  stern,  high  duty 

Now  nerves  my  arm,  and  fires  my  brain. 
Perish  the  dream  of  shapes  of  beauty, 

So  that  this  strife  be  not  in  vain  1 
To  war  on  fraud  intrenched  with  power, 

On  smooth  pretence  and  specious  wrong,  — 
This  task  be  mine,  though  Fortune  lower ; 

For  this  be  banished  sky  and  song. 

Mr.  Greeley  announced  his  marriage  in  "  The  New- 
Yorker  "  of  July  16,  1836,  in  the  following  language  : 
"  In  Immanuel  Church,  Warrenton,  N.C.,  on  Tues- 
day morning,  5th  inst.,  by  Rev.  William  Norwood, 
Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  '  The  New-Yorker,'  to 
Miss  Mary  Y.  Cheney  of  Warrenton,  formerly  of  this 
city." 

The  bride  had  been  a  teacher  in  New  York,  and 
had  removed  to  North  Carolina  in  the  exercise  of  that 
profession.  He  became  acquainted  with  her  at  the 
Graham  boarding-house,  of  which  mention  will  be 
made  hereafter. 


92  LIFE  OP   HORACE  GREELEY. 

Mr.  Greeley  turned  his  wedding-tour  to  good  advan- 
tage for  his  paper.  He  had  never  visited  Washington 
before.  He  was  very  favorably  impressed  with  the 
Senate,  of  which  he  wrote  the  following  for  his  paper: 
"  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  unsurpassed  in 
intellectual  greatness  by  any  body  of  fifty  men  ever 
convened  is  a  trite  observation.  A  phrenologist 
would  fancy  a  strong  confirmation  of  his  doctrines  in 
the  very  appearance  of  the  Senate :  a  physiognomist 
would  find  it.  The  most  striking  person  on  the  floor 
is  Mr.  Clay,  who  is  incessantly  in  motion,  and  whose 
spare,  erect  form  betrays  an  easy  dignity  approaching 
to  majesty,  and  a  perfect  gracefulness  such  as  I  have 
never  seen  equalled.  His  countenance  is  intelligent, 
and  indicative  of  character ;  but  a  glance  at  his 
figure,  while  his  face  was  completely  averted,  would 
give  assurance  that  he  was  no  common  man.  Mr. 
Calhoun  is  one  of  the  plainest  men,  and  certainly 
the  dryest,  hardest  speaker  I  ever  listened  to.  The 
flow  of  his  ideas  reminded  me  of  a  barrel  filled  with 
pebbles,  each  of  which  must  find  great  difficulty  in 
escaping,  from  the  very  solidity  and  number  of  those 
pressing  upon  it,  and  impeding  its  natural  motion. 
Mr.  Calhoun,  though  far  from  being  a  handsome, 
is  still  a  very  remarkable  personage ;  but  Mr.  Benton 
has  the  least  intellectual  countenance  I  ever  saw  on  a 
senator.  Mr.  Webster  was  not  in  his  place. 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  93 

"  The  best  speech  was  that  of  Mr.  Crittenden  of 
Kentucky.  "That  man  is  not  appreciated  so  highly  as 
he  should  and  must  be.  He  has  a  rough  readiness,  a 
sterling  good  sense,  a  republican  manner  and  feeling, 
and  a  vein  of  biting  though  homely  satire,  which  will 
yet  raise  him  to  distinction  in  the  national  councils." 

Perhaps  the  most  startling  and  far-reaching  of  Mr. 
Grceley's  articles,  while  editor  of"  The  New-Yorker," 
was  written  in  1837,  on  the  parade  made  on  the  4th 
of  July.  It  is  entitled  "  Tyranny  of  Opinion  :  "  — 

"  The  great  pervading  evil  of  our  social  condition 
is  the  worship  and  the  bigotry  of  opinion.  While  the 
theory  of  our  political  institutions  asserts  or  implies 
the  absolute  freedom  of  the  human  mind,  the  right, 
not  only  of  free  thought  and  discussion,  but  of  the 
most  unrestrained  action  thereon,  within  the  wide 
boundaries  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  yet 
the  practical  commentary  upon  this  noble  text  is  as 
discordant  as  imagination  can  conceive.  Beneath  the 
thin  veil  of  a  democracy  more  free  than  that  of 
Athens  in  her  glory  we  cloak  a  despotism  more  per- 
nicious and  revolting  than  that  of  Turkey  or  China. 
It  is  the  despotism  of  opinion.  Whoever  ventures  to 
propound  opinions  strikingly  at  variance  with  those 
of  the  majority  must  be  content  to  brave  obloquy, 
contempt,  and  persecution.  If  political,  they  exclude 
him  from  public  employment  and  trust;  if  religious, 


94  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

from  social  intercourse  and  general  regard,  if  not 
from  absolute  rights.  However  moderately  heretical 
in  his  political  views,  he  cannot  be  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  an  officer  of  the  customs,  or  a  lamplighter ; 
while,  if  he  be  positively  and  frankly  sceptical  in  his 
theology,  grave  judges  pronounce  him  incompetent  to 
give  testimony  in  courts  of  justice,  though  his  charac- 
ter for  veracity  be  indubitable.  That  is  but  a  narrow 
view  of  the  subject  which  ascribes  all  this  injustice  to 
the  errors  of  parties  or  individuals  :  it  flows  naturally 
from  the  vice  of  the  age  and  country,  —  the  tyranny 
of  opinion.  It  can  never  be  wholly  rectified  until  the 
whole  community  shall  be  brought  to  feel  and 
acknowledge  that  the  only  security  for  public  liberty 
is  to  be  found  in  the  absolute  and  unqualified  free- 
dom of  thought  and  expression,  confining  penal  conse- 
quences to  acts  only  which  are  detrimental  to  the 
welfare  of  society. 

"  The  philosophical  observer  from  abroad  may  well 
be  astounded  by  the  gross  inconsistencies  which  are 
presented  by  the  professions  and  the  conduct  of  our 
people.  Thousands  will  flock  together  to  drink  in 
the  musical  periods  of  some  popular  disclaimer  on 
the  inalienable  rights  of  man,  the  inviolability  of  the 
immunities  granted  us  by  the  constitution  and  laws, 
and  the  invariable  reverence  of  freemen  for  the 
majesty  of  law.  They  go  away  delighted  with  our 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  95 

institutions,  the  orator,  and  themselves.  The  next 
day  they  may  be  engaged  in  lynching  some  unlucky 
individual  who  has  fallen  under  their  sovereign 
displeasure,  breaking  up  a  public  meeting  of  an 
obnoxious  cast,  or  tarring  and  feathering  some  unfor- 
tunate lecturer  or  propagandist  whose  views  do  not 
square  with  their  own,  but  who  has  precisely  the 
same  right  to  enjoy  and  propagate  his  opinions,  how- 
ever erroneous,  as  though  he  inculcated  nothing  but 
what  every  one  knows  and  acknowledges  already. 
The  shamelessness  of  this  incongruity  is  sickening ; 
but  it  is  not  confined  to  this  glaring  exhibition.  The 
sheriff,  town-clerk,  or  constable,  who  finds  the  politi- 
cal majority  in  his  district  changed  either  by  immi- 
gration or  the  course  of  events,  must  be  content  to 
change  too,  or  be  hurled  from  his  station.  Yet  what 
necessary  connection  is  there  between  his  politics  and 
and  his  office  ?  Why  might  it  not  as  properly  be 
insisted  that  a  town-officer  should  be  six  feet  high  or 
have  red  hair,  if  the  majority  were  so  distinguished, 
as  that  he  should  think  with  them  respecting  the  men 
in  high  places  and  the  measures  projected  or  opposed 
by  them  ?  and  how  does  the  proscription  of  a  man 
in  any  way  for  'obnoxious  opinions  differ  from  the 
most  glaring  tyranny  ?  " 

"The   New-Yorker"   was   continued  seven  years; 
and   during   those   seven    years,    Mr.    Greeley    says, 


96  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  seven  co-partners  in  its  publication  withdrew  from 
the  concern."  On  the  whole,  Mr.  Greeley  had  a 
hard  time  while  he  conducted  this  paper.  He  ap- 
pealed to  his  patrons  once  and  again  to  pay  up ; 
but  it  was  of  no  avail,  as  has  been  already  stated  by 
him.  The  paper  was  a  good  one,  and  well  conducted  ; 
but  its  owner  and  editor  were  but  poorly  paid. 

During  a  part  of  the  time  he  edited  "  The  New- 
Yorker,"  Mr.  Greeley  was  also  editor  of  "  The  Jeffer- 
sonian,"  a  Whig  paper,  published  in  Albany,  N.Y. 
His  labors  while  he  conducted  these  two  papers  were 
most  abundant.  As  soon  as  he  had  got  ready  "  The 
New-Yorker "  for  the  press,  he  hastened  to  the  boat 
for  Albany  ;  where,  after  spending  a  sleepless  or  nearly 
sleepless  night,  he  arrived  in  Albany  to  work  hard  the 
next  day  in  editing  "  The  Jeffersoniau." 

Next  came  "  The  Log-Cabin."  Those  of  us  who 
remember  that  overwhelming  avalanche  of  1840, 
when  the  Whigs  rallied  from  one  end  of  the  country 
to  the  other  and  took  possession  of  the  government 
by  storm,  know  what  "  The  Log-Cabin  "  then  meant. 

The  Democrats  had  had  the  government  for  years. 
Andrew  Jackson  had  served  in  the  presidency  two 
terms  ;  Martin  Van  Buren,  one ;  and  now,  by  con- 
certed action,  the  Whigs  made  one  desperate  effort, 
determined  on  success.  They  nominated  for  presi- 
dent William  Henry  Harrison  of  Ohio.  In  this  they 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  97 

manifested  great  shrewdness ;  for  had  they  selected 
Henry  Clay  or  Daniel  Webster,  or  any  other  then 
active  politician,  everybody  knew  too  much  about 
them,  and  every  mouth  would  have  been  filled  with 
their  faults.  But,  when  they  selected  Gen.  Harrison, 
no  one  of  the  younger  generation  knew  any  thing 
about  him.  The  Democrats  said  he  was  a  feeble  old 
man,  who  had  dwelt  at  North  Bend,  living  on  hard 
cider  in  a  log-cabin,  where  he  had  been  buried  thirty 
years.  The  Whigs  took  up  the  glove  thus  thrown 
down  by  their  opponents,  and  made  "  Log-Cabin " 
and  "Hard  Cider"  their  watchwords,  and  notwith- 
standing all  the  ridicule  thrown  upon  Harrison,  and 
all  the  patronage  of  the  government  that  the  party 
in  power  could  use,  elected  Harrison  to  the  presi- 
dency. 

Harrison  was  the  hero  of  the  battle  of  Tippeca- 
noe. 

With  him  they  nominated  for  vice-president  John 
Tyler  of  Virginia  ;  and  making  their  songs  on 

"  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too," 

as  just  said,  they  took  the  country  as  by  storm. 

As  I  have  before  said,  Martin  Van  Buren  had  been 
considered  the  great  magician,  the  most  skilful 
"  wire-puller,"  of  the  land.  The  people  were  tired 
of  this  kind  of  manoeuvring.  They  had  just  passed 


98  LIFE  OF  HOBACE  GREELEY. 

through  the  crisis  of  1837-8,  and  were  sore  under 
those  commercial  disasters  :  consequently  they  were 
prepared  for  a  change.  Now  the  hero  of  Tippe- 
canoe  and  the  farmer  of  North  Bend  was  pitted 
against  the  wily  Dutchman  and  the  patronage  of 
the  White  House ;  and  the  latter  was  laughed  at, 
joked,  jeered,  and  ridiculed  out  of  a  second  term. 

I  cannot  give  the  part  which  Mr.  Greeley  acted  in 
this  election  of  Harrison  better  than  by  selecting  the 
language  of  Mr.  Parton  in  his  Life  of  Mr.  Greeley, 
p.  181 :  "  The  man  who  contributed  most  to  keep 
alive  and  increase  the  popular  enthusiasm,  the  man 
who  did  most  to  feed  that  enthusiasm  with  the  sub- 
stantial fuel  of  fact  and  argument,  was,  beyond  all 
question,  Horace  Greeley. 

"  On  the  2d  of  May  the  first  number  of  '  The  Log- 
Cabin' appeared,  by  H.  Greeley  and  Co. ;  a  weekly  paper, 
to  be  published  simultaneously  at  Newark  and  Albany 
at  fifty  cents  for  the  campaign  of  six  months.  It  was 
a  small  paper,  about  half  the  size  of  the  present 
*  Tribune ; '  but  it  was  conducted  with  wonderful 
spirit,  and  made  an  unprecedented  hit.  Of  the  first 
number  an  edition  of  twenty  thousand  was  printed, 
which  Mr.  Greeley's  friends  thought  a  far  greater 
number  than  would  be  sold  ;  but  the  edition  vanished 
from  the  counter  in  a  day.  Eight  thousand  more 
were  struck  off:  they  were  sold  in  a  morning.  Four 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  99 

thousand  more  were  printed  ;  and  still  the  demand 
seemed  unabated.  A  further  supply  of  six  thousand 
was  printed,  and  the  types  were  then  distributed.  In 
a  few  days,  however,  the  demand  became  so  urgent, 
that  the  number  was  re-set,  and  an  edition  of  ten 
thousand  struck  off.  Altogether,  forty-eight  thousand 
of  the  first  number  were  sold.  Subscribers  came 
pouring  in  at  the  rate  of  seven  hundred  a  day.  The 
list  lengthened  in  a  few  weeks  to  sixty  thousand 
names,  and  kept  increasing  till  the  weekly  issue  was 
between  eighty  and  ninety  thousand.  Horace  Greeley 
and  Co.  were  really  overwhelmed  with  their  success. 
They  had  made  no  preparations  for  such  an  enormous 
increase  of  business  ;  and  they  were  troubled  to  hire 
clerks  and  folders  fast  enough  to  get  their  stupendous 
edition  into  the  mails. 

"  '  The  Log-Cabin '  is  not  dull  reading,  even  now, 
after  the  lapse  of  years,  though  the  men  and  the 
questions  of  that  day  are,  most  of  them,  dead ;  but 
then  it  was  devoured  with  an  eagerness  which  even 
those  who  remember  it  can  hardly  realize." 

Those  were  stirring  times,  and  "  The  Log-Cabin " 
was  a  stirring  paper.  Mr.  Greeley  announced  its 
purpose  and  object  in  the  following  language :  — 

"  '  The  Log-Cabin  '  will  be  a  zealous  and  unwaver- 
ing advocate  of  the  rights,  interests,  and  prosperity  of 
our  whole  country,  but  especially  those  of  the  hardy 


100  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GEEELEY. 

subduers  and  cultivators  of  her  soil.  It  will  be  the 
advocate  of  the  cause  of  the  log-cabin  against  that 
of  the  custom-house  and  presidential  palace.  It 
will  be  an  advocate  of  the  interests  of  unassuming 
industry  against  the  schemes  and  devices  of  function- 
aries 'dressed  in  a  little  brief  authority,'  whose  salaries 
are  trebled  in  value  whenever  labor  is  forced  to  beg 
for  employment  at  three  or  four  shillings  a  day.  It 
will  be  the  advocate  of  a  sound,  uniform,  adequate 
currency  for  our  whole  country,  against  the  visionary 
projects  and  ruinous  experiments  of  the  official 
Dousterswivels  of  the  day,  who  commenced  by  prom- 
ising prosperity,  abundance,  and  plenty  of  gold,  as  the 
sure  result  of  their  policy  ;  and,  lo !  we  have  its 
issues  in  disorganization,  bankruptcy,  low  wages,  and 
treasury  rags.  In  fine,  it  will  be  the  advocate  of 
freedom,  improvement,  and  of  national  reform,  by 
the  election  of  Harrison  and  Tyler,  the  restoration  of 
purity  to  the  government,  of  efficiency  to  the  public 
will,  and  of  better  times  to  the  people.  Such  are  the 
objects  and  scope  of  '  The  Log-Cabin.' ' 

This  paper  was  nobly  managed  by  Mr.  Greeley,  and 
ho  fulfilled  all  his  promises  respecting  it.  "  The 
Log-Cabin,"  and  the  songs  that  accompanied  it, 
elected  Gen.  Harrison.  Those  songs  were  graphic. 
The  writer  learned,  and  has  not  forgotten  them  yet. 
They  were  like  this  :  — 


COMMENCES   BUSINESS.  IU1 

"  Little  Van  is  a  used-up  man. 

Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too. 

From  the  White  House,  now,  Matty,  turn  out,  turn  out  1 
From  the  White  House,  now,  Matty,  turn  out,  turn  out  1 

Since  there  you  have  been 

No  peace  we  have  seen  : 
So,  Matty,  now  please  to  turn  out,  turn  out  I 
So,  Matty,  now  please  to  turn  out  1 
Make  way  for  old  Tip !  turn  out,  turn  out  1 

'Tis  the  people's  desire 

Their  choice  he  shall  be  : 
So,  Martin  Van  Buren,  turn  out,  turn  out  I 
So,  Martin  Van  Buren,  turn  out,  turn  out  I " 

111  his  Life  of  Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Parton  gives  the 
following  witty  story  as  no  one  else  could  give  it,  and 
says  "  it  is  literally  true."  It  may  be  found  on  p. 
188  of  the  Life  published  by  James  R.  Osgood  &  Co. 
It  shows  how  Mr.  Greeley  was  absorbed  in  the  Har- 
rison campaign.  It  is  named  "  The  Cake-Basket." 
"  Time,  Sunday  evening ;  scene,  the  parlor  of  a 
friend's  house ;  company  numerous  and  political, 
except  the  ladies,  who  are  gracious  and  hospitable. 
Mr.  Greeley  is  expected  to  tea,  but  does  not  come, 
and  the  meal  is  transacted  without  him.  Tea  over,  he 
arrives,  and  plunges  headlong  into  a  conversation  on 
the  currency.  The  lady  of  the  house  thinks  he  had 
better  take  some  tea,  but  cannot  get  a  hearing  on  the 
subject ;  is  distressed,  puts  the  question  at  length,  and 

9* 


102  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

has    her    invitation    hurriedly    declined,  —  brushed 
aside,  in  fact,  with  a  wave  of  the  hand. 

"  '  Take  a  cruller,  any  way,'  said  she,  handing  him  a 
cake-basket  containing  a  dozen  or  so  of  those  unspeak- 
able Dutch  indigestibles.  The  expounder  of  the 
currency,  dimly  conscious  that  a  large  object  was 
approaching  him,  puts  forth  his  hands,  still  vehe- 
mently talking,  and  takes,  not  a  cruller,  but  the  cake- 
basket,  and  deposits  it  in  his  lap.  The  company  are 
inwardly  convulsed ;  and  some  of  the  weaker  mem- 
bers retire  to  the  adjoining  apartment,  the  expounder 
continuing  his  harangue,  unconscious  of  their  emo- 
tions or  its  cause.  Minutes  elapse.  His  hands,  in 
their  wandering  through  the  air,  come  in  contact 
with  the  topmost  cake,  which  they  take  and  break. 
He  begins  to  eat,  and  eats  and  talks,  talks  and  eats, 
till  he  has  finished  a  cruller.  Then  he  feels  for 
another,  and  eats  that,  and  goes  on,  slowly  consuming 
the  contents  of  the  basket  till  the  last  crumb  is  gone. 
The  company  look  on  amazed,  and  the  kind  lady  of 
the  house  fears  for  the  consequences.  She  has  heard 
that  cheese  is  an  antidote  to  indigestion.  Taking  the 
empty  cake-basket  from  his  lap,  she  silently  puts  a 
plate  of  cheese  in  its  place,  hoping  instinct  will  guide 
his  hand  aright.  The  experiment  succeeds.  Gradu- 
ally the  blocks  of  white  new  cheese  disappear.  She 
removes  the  plate.  No  ill  consequences  follow. 


COMMENCES  BUSINESS.  103 

Those  who  saw  this  sight  are  fixed  in  the  belief  that 
Mr.  Greeley  was  not  then  nor  has  since  become 
aware  that  on  that  evening  he  partook  of  sustenance." 
No  man  did  more  in  that  memorable  campaign  of 
1840  to  elect  Harrison  than  Horace  Greeley.  But 
he  asked  for  no  office,  and,  to  the  shame  of  the  party 
and  the  men  elected  by  it,  no  office  was  offered 
him ;  while  so  hungry  were  the  party,  having  starved 
through  twelve  years  under  Andrew  Jackson  and 
Martin  Van  Buren,  that  they  rushed  upon  their  poor 
victim,  Harrison,  in  such  numbers,  and  with  such 
impetuosity,  that  the  good  old  man,  who  had  lived  in 
retirement  for  thirty  years,  succumbed  in  a  single 
month.  Had  he  been  an  old  politician,  used  to  the 
harness,  skilled  in  trickery,  regardless  of  promises, 
and  making  them  to  every  applicant ;  or  had  all 
treated  him  as  Horace  did, — just  let  him  alone, — 
Harrison  might  have  lived  to  serve  out  his  term,  and 
John  Tyler  would  never  have  served  his.  Whatever 
men  may  say  of  Mr.  Greeley  now,  no  man  has  been 
farther  from  seeking  office  all  his  life  than  this  same 
man. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

HORACE  GREELEY'S  TEMPERANCE. 

Horace  will  not  drink.  —  Aids  in  forming  a  Temperance  Society.  —  His 
Opinion  of  Cider-Guzzling.  —  Liquor  used  by  Everybody.  —  Why  Cities 
always  go  for  Liquor-Selling. — The  Man  in  whom  an  Iceberg  formed. 
—  Horace  foreshadows  a  Prohibitory  Law.  —  Sylvester  Graham.  —  Died 
of  Chagrin. — Mr.  Greeley's  Grahamism.  —  Finds  his  Wife  at  the  Graham 
Boarding-House.  —  On  the  Whole,  he  thinks  favorably  of  eating  more 
Fruit,  and  less  Meat. 

WE  find  an  excellent  trait  of  character  in  him  in 
his  temperance.  So  many  editors  and  so  many 
public  men  are  intemperate,  that,  when  we  find  one  who 
has  for  a  lifetime  strictly  followed  the  laws  of  temper- 
ance in  all  things,  we  ought  to  make  a  mark  there, 
and  place  an  exclamation-point. 

Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  On  the  first  day  of  January, 
1824,  while  living  in  West  Haven,  Vt.,  I  deliber- 
ately resolved  to  drink  no  more  distilled  liquors." 
Temperance  societies  had  been  formed  in  some  places 
at  that  time,  and  he  had  heard  of  persons  who  had 
resolved  that  they  would  drink  no  more  liquor.  He 
says,  "  The  American  Temperance  Society  was  yet 

104 


HORACE  GREELEY'S  TEMPERANCE.          105 

unknown,  and  did  not  adopt  the  principle  of  total 
abstinence  from  alcoholic  beverages  until  1833." 

The  writer  thinks  Mr.  Greeley  is  mistaken  in  this : 
at  all  events,  he  has  now  a  series  of  temperance 
addresses  which  he  delivered  in  various  parts  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  Hampshire  in  1829  and  1830, 
wherein  total  abstinence  is  maintained  and  strongly 
inculcated  as  the  "  club  of  Hercules,  with  which  the 
monster  Intemperance  is  to  be  slain."  At  the  time 
Mr.  Greeley  was  in  Vermont,  he  says,  "  Whiskey  and 
tobacco  were  the  universal  luxuries  —  I  might  say, 
the  poor  man's  only  luxuries  —  in  Vermont,  as  rum 
had  been  in  New  Hampshire." 

Cider  was  universally  used.  Apple-trees  flourished 
and  were  almost  universally  cultivated  in  every 
clearing  upon  the  new  soil.  Then,  too,  good  peach- 
es were  raised  in  these  Northern  States ;  though  now 
peach-trees  have  almost  disappeared  from  among 
us.  Cider  being  so  abundant,  it  was  a  short  cut  to 
hotter  and  more  stimulating  drinks  ;  and  multitudes 
easily  crossed  the  bridge,  and  died  paupers  and  drunk- 
ards. 

Mr.  Greeley,  in  his  "  Recollections,"  says,  "  I  believe 
I  was  five  years  old  when  my  grandfather  Woodburn's 
house  in  Londonderry  was,  one  winter-day,  filled  with 
relatives,  gathered  in  good  part  from  Deering,  "Wind- 
ham,  and  from  Vermont  towns  originally  settled  from 


106  LIFE  OP  HORACE   GBEELEY. 

the  old  hive,  who,  after  dinner,  departed  in  their 
sleighs  to  visit  some  other  relative,  taking  our  old 
folks  with  them,  and  leaving  but  three  or  four  little 
boys  of  us  to  keep  house  till  their  return.  A  number 
of  half-smoked  cigars  had  been  left  on  the  mantel ;  and 
some  evil  genius  suggested  to  us  tow-headed  urchins 
that  it  would  be  smart  and  clever  to  indulge  in  a 
general  smoke.  Like  older  fools,  we  went  in  ;  and  I 
was  soon  the  sickest  mortal  on  the  face  of  this  planet. 
I  cannot  say  as  to  my  comrades  in  this  folly ;  but  that 
half-inch  of  cigar-stump  will  last  me  all  my  life,  though 
its  years  should  outnumber  Methuselah's.  For  a  dec- 
ade thereafter  it  was  often  my  filial  duty  to  fill  and 
light  my  mother's  pipe  when  she  had  lain  down  for 
her  after-dinner  nap ;  and  she,  having  taken  it,  would 
hold  it  and  talk  till  the  fire  had  gone  out,  so  that  it 
must  again  be  lighted  and  drawn  till  the  tobacco  well 
ignited.  Hence  I  know,  that,  if  I  had  not  been  proof 
against  narcotic  seduction,  I  should  have  learned  to 
like  the  soothing  weed.  But  I  never  used,  nor  wished 
to  use,  it  as  a  sedative  or  a  luxury,  after  my  one 
juvenile  and  thoroughly  conclusive  experiment.  From 
that  hour  to  this,  the  chewing,  smoking,  or  snuffing 
of  tobacco  has  seemed  to  me,  if  not  the  most  perni- 
cious, certainly  the  vilest,  most  detestable  abuse  of  his 
corrupted  sensual  appetites  whereof  depraved  man  is 
capable." 


HORACE  GREELEY'S  TEMPERANCE.    107 

When  it  is  considered,  that,  in  those  days,  everybody 
drank ;  that  at  every  friendly  greeting  and  entertain- 
ment, at  every  meeting  of  neighbors  for  sociability, 
liquor  was  always  produced,  —  it  was  wonderful  that 
young  Greeley  escaped  the  general  contagion.  Well 
does  the  writer  remember  those  days,  when  at  every 
raising,  every  wedding,  every  burial,  every  ball,  every 
ordination,  and  on  every  other  occasion  that  called 
people  together,  the  bottle  was  brought  forward,  and 
every  one  drank.  This  was  not  all ;  for,  if  one  were 
found  who  did  not  take  his  share  of  the  poison,  he  was 
persuaded,  joked,  ridiculed,  and  laughed  at,  to  draw  or 
drive  him  into  the  wicked  and  foolish  custom.  Hence 
it  required  no  ordinary  degree  of  moral  courage  to  re- 
sist this  vast  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  one  who 
was  so  singular  in  his  habits  as  not  to  drink. 

Mr.  Greeley,  in  giving  an  account  of  the  ordination 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Lord  (afterwards  president  of  Dartmouth 
College),  said,  "  We  had  an  ordination  in  Amherst, 
nearly  fifty  years  ago,  to  the  signal  satisfaction  of  the 
great  body  of  our  people :  and,  according  to  my  recol- 
lection, strong  drink  was  more  generally  and  bounti- 
fully dispensed  than  on  any  previous  occasion  ;  bottles 
and  glasses  being  set  on  tables  in  front  of  many  farm- 
ers' houses  as  an  invitation  to  those  who  passed  on  their 
way  to  or  from  the  installation  to  stop  and  drink 
freely.  We  have  worse  liquor  now  than  we  had  then  ; 


108  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

and  delirium  tremens,  apoplexy,  palsy,  &c.,  come 
sooner  and  oftener  to  those  who  use  it :  but  our  con- 
sumers of  strong  drink  are  a  class,  whereas  they  were 
then  the  whole  people.  The  pious  probably  drank 
more  discreetly  than  the  ungodly ;  but  they  all  drank 
to  their  own  satisfaction,  and,  I  judge,  more  than  was 
consistent  with  their  personal  good." 

Though  Mr.  Greeley  at  this  early  period  never 
spoke  of  his  resolve  not  to  drink  except  in  his 
father's  family,  yet  it  somehow  became  known  in  the 
neighborhood,  where- it  excited,  not  curiosity  only,  but 
opposition  ;  so  that,  on  one  occasion,  —  the  time  of 
sheep-washing,  —  he  was  told  to  drink  a  glass  of 
liquor,  and,  on  his  refusal,  was  held  by  two  youngsters 
older  and  stronger  than  he,  and  it  was  turned  into  his 
mouth,  and  some  of  it  forced  down  his  throat.  But 
even  this  personal  assault  did  not  cure  him  of  his 
singularity ;  for  he  still  kept  his  resolution. 

Soon  after  his  removal  to  Poultney,  lie  says  in  his 
"  Recollections,"  "  I  assisted  in  organizing  the  first 
temperance  society  ever  formed  in  that  town,  perhaps 
the  first  in  the  county.  It  inhibited  the  use  of  dis- 
tilled liquors  only  ;  so  that  I  believe  our  first  presi- 
dent died  of  intemperance  a  few  years  afterward.  I 
recollect  a  story  told  at  that  time  by  our  adversaries 
of  a  man  who  had  joined  the  temperance  society  just 
organized  in  a  neighboring  township,  and,  dying  soon 


HORACE  GREELEY'S  TEMPERANCE.          109 

afterwards,  had  been  subjected  to  an  autopsy,  which 
developed  a  cake  of  ice  weighing  several  pounds, 
which  had  gradually  formed  arid  increased  in  his 
stomach  as  a  result  of  his  fanatical  devotion  to  cold 
water.  Alas  that  most  of  our  facetious  critics  have 
since  died,  and  no  autopsy  was  needed  to  develop 
the  cause  of  their  departure  !  A  glance  at  each  fiery 
proboscis,  that  irradiated  even  the  cerements  of  the 
grave,  was  sufficient." 

Mr.  Greeley  well  accounts  for  the  fact  that  all  our 
cities  are  far  behind  the  country  towns  in  temperance 
habits  in  the  following  language  in  his  "  Recollec- 
tions :  "  "  Total  abstinence  has  never  yet  oeen  popular 
in  this  nor  in  any  other  great  city  ;  and,  as  liquor 
grows  unfashionable  in  the  country,  it  tends  to  be- 
come less  and  less  so.  A  great  city  derives  its  subsist- 
ence and  its  profits  from  ministrations  therein,  not  only 
to  the  real  needs  of  the  surrounding  country,  but  to  its 
baser  appetites,  its  vices,  as  well ;  and,  as  the  country 
becomes  less  and  less  tolerant  of  immoral  indul- 
gences and  vicious  aberrations,  the  gains  of  cities  there- 
from, and  their  consequent  interest  therein,  must 
steadily  increase.  Time  was  when  the  young  man 
of  means  and  social  position,  who  shunned  the  haunts 
of  the  gamester,  the  wiles  of  the  libertine,  and  never 
indulged  in  a  drunken  spree,  was  widely  sneered  at 
as  a  milksop,  or  detested  as  a  calculating  hypocrite. 
ift 


110  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

Sheridan's  Joseph  Surface  admirably  reflects  the  once 
popular  appreciation  of  such  absurd,  fanatical  Puri- 
tanism ;  but  the  world  grows  wiser  and  (in  an  impor- 
tant sense)  better.  A  great  though  silent  change  is 
wrought  in  public  sentiment,  which  compels  the 
vicious  to  conceal  indulgences  that  they  formerly 
paraded,  and  maintain  an  exterior  decency  which 
would  once  have  exposed  them  to  ridicule.  Thou- 
sands, who  formerly  gratifiad  their  baser  appetites 
without  disguise  or  shame,  now  feel  constrained,  not 
to  leave  undone,  but  to  keep  unknown,  by  hieing  to 
some  great  city,  where  no  one's  deeds  or  ways  are 
observed  or  much  regarded  so  long  as  he  keeps  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  police,  and  there  balance  a  year's 
compelled  decorum  by  a  week's  unrestrained  debauch- 
ery. Fifty  years  back,  a  jug  would  readily  be  filled 
with  any  designated  liquor  at  almost  any  country 
store :  now  the  devotee  of  alcoholic  potations  must 
usually  send  or  take  his  demijohn  to  the  most  con- 
venient city,  where  it  will  at  once  be  filled,  and  de- 
spatched to  its  impatient  and  thirsty  owner.  And  so, 
as  the  liquor-interest  grows  weaker  and  weaker  in  the 
country,  it  becomes  stronger  and  yet  stronger  in  the 
cities,  whose  politics  it  fashions,  whose  government  it 
governs,  by  virtue  of  its  inherent  strength  and  ap- 
prehensive activity;  and  thus  the  liquor-traffic  has 
greater  strength  and  vitality  in  our  city  to-day  than  it 
had  twenty  to  forty  years  ago." 


HOEACE  GEEELEY'S  TEMPEEANCE.          Ill 

Always  he  has  been  thorough  on  temperance.  As 
long  ago  as  1835  he  wrote  the  following,  which  looks 
very  strongly  towards  the  prohibitory  laws  of  1872  : 
"  Were  we  called  upon  to  indicate  simply  the  course 
which  should  be  pursued  for  the  eradication  of  this 
crying  evil,  our  compliance  would  be  a  far  easier 
matter.  We  would  say  unhesitatingly,  that  the  vend- 
ing of  alcohol,  or  of  liquors  of  which  alcohol  forms  a 
leading  component,  should  be  regulated  by  the  laws 
which  govern  the  sale  of  other  insidious  yet  deadly 
poisons.  It  should  be  kept  for  sale  only  by  druggists, 
and  dealt  out  in  small  potions,  and  with  like  regard 
to  the  character  and  ostensible  purpose  of  the  appli- 
cant as  in  the  case  of  its  counterpart.  But  we  must 
not  forget  that  we  are  to  determine  simply  what  may 
be  done  by  the  friends  of  temperance  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  noble  cause  in  which  they  are  engaged, 
rather  than  what  the  more  ardent  of  them  (with 
whom  we  are  proud  to  rank  ourselves)  would  desire 
to  see  accomplished.  We  are  to  look  at  things  as 
they  are;  and,  in  that  view,  all  attempts  to  interdict 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  our  hotels,  our 
country  stores,  and  our  steamboats,  in  the  present 
state  of  public  opinion,  must  be  hopelessly  futile. 
The  only  available  provision  bearing  on  this  branch 
of  the  traffic,  which  could  be  urged  with  the  least 
prospect  of  success,  is  the  imposition  of  a  real  license- 


112  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

tax,  say  from  a  hundred  to  ten  hundred  dollars  per 
annum,  which  would  have  the  effect  of  diminishing 
the  evil  by  rendering  less  frequent  and  less  universal 
the  temptations  which  lead  to  it ;  but  even  that,  we 
apprehend,  would  meet  with  strenuous  opposition 
from  so  large  and  influential  a  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity as  to  render  its  adoption  and  efficiency  extreme- 
ly doubtful." 

About  1831-2,  Sylvester  Graham  became  a  lecturer 
upon  his  peculiar  system.  He  had  been  educated  for  the 
ministry,  and  had  been  the  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian 
church  in  New  Jersey.  Many  called  him  Dr.  Graham ; 
but  it  is  believed  he  never  had  any  medical  degree.  He 
had  considerable  mind,  possessed  a  fair  amount  of 
knowledge,  was  enthusiastic  upon  his  hobby,  extremely 
egotistical,  and  verily  believed  that  Sylvester  Graham 
was  destined  to  change  the  habits  of  the  world  upon 
eatables  and  drinkables.  When  he  had  written  out 
his  lectures,  and  published  them,  he  verily  expected 
they  would  become  a  text-book  in  all  our  colleges  and 
seminaries ;  but,  when  the  two  ponderous  volumes  fell 
"  still-born  "  from  the  press,  the  publisher  failed,  and 
Graham  died  of  disappointment  and  chagrin. 

His  system,  as  the  writer  remembers  it,  and  as  Mr. 
Greeley  has  stated  it,  was  this  :  "  He  believed,  there- 
fore taught,  that  health  is  the  necessary  result  of  obe- 
dience, disease  of  disobedience,  to  physical  laws ;  that 


HORACE  GBEELEY'S  TEMPERANCE.          113 

all  stimulants,  whether  alcoholic  or  narcotic,  are  per- 
nicious, and  should  be  rejected,  save,  possibly,  in  those 
rare  cases  where  one  poison  may  be  wisely  employed 
to  neutralize  or  expel  another.  He  condemned  tea  and 
coffee,  as  well  as  tobacco,  opium,  and  alcoholic  pota- 
bles ;  cider  and  beer  equally  with  brandy  and  gin,  save 
that  the  poison  is  more  concentrated  in  the  latter. 
He  disapproved  of  all  spices  and  condiments  save 
(grudgingly)  a  very  little  salt ;  and  he  held  that  more 
suitable  and  wholesome  food  for  human  beings  than 
the  flesh  of  animals  can  almost  always  be  procured, 
and  should  be  preferred.  The  bolting  of  meal,  to 
separate  its  coarser  from  its  finer  particles,  he  also 
reprobated  ;  teaching  that  the  ripe,  sound  berry  of 
wheat  or  rye,  being  ground  to  the  requisite  fineness, 
should  in  no  manner  be  sifted,  but  should  be  made 
into  loaves,  and  eaten  precisely  as  the  millstones  de- 
liver it.  Such  is,  in  brief,  the  '  Graham  system,'  as 
I  heard  it  expounded  in  successive  lectures  by  its 
author,  and  fortified  by  evidence,  —  reasoning  which 
commanded  my  general  assent. 

"  A  boarding-house  was  soon  established,  based  on  its 
principles  ;  and  I  became  an  inmate  thereof,  as  well  as 
of  others  afterward  founded  on  the  same  general 
ideas  ;  though  I  never  wholly  rejected  the  use  of  meat. 
Tea  1  never  cared  for ;  and  I  used  none  at  all  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  :  now  I  sometimes  take  it  in  moderation 
10* 


114  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

when  black  and  very  good.  Coffee  had  for  years  been 
rny  chief  luxury  ;  coffee  without  breakfast  being  far 
preferable,  to  my  taste,  to  breakfast  without  coffee : 
but,  having  drank  a  strong  cup  of  it  one  evening  at  a 
festive  board,  I  woke  next  morning  to  find  my  hand 
trembling ;  and  I  at  once  said,  '  No  more  coffee,'  and 
have  not  drank  it  since.  My  taste  gradually  changed 
thereafter,  so  that  I  soon  ceased  to  crave,  and  now 
thoroughly  dislike,  the  beverage.  And  while  I  eat  meat, 
and  deem  it,  when  unspoiled  by  decay  or  bad  cookery, 
far  less  objectionable  than  hot  bread,  rancid  butter, 
decayed  fruits,  wilted  vegetables,  and  too  many  other 
contributions  to  our  ordinary  diet,  I  profoundly  believe 
that  there  is  better  food  obtainable  by  the  great  body 
of  mankind  than  the  butcher  and  the  fisherman  do  or 
can  supply ;  and  that  a  diet  made  up  of  sound  grain 
(ground,  but  unbolted),  ripe,  undecayed  fruits,  and  a 
variety  of  fresh,  wholesome  vegetables,  with  milk,  but- 
ter, and  cheese,  and  a  very  little  of  spices  or  condi- 
ments, will  enable  our  grandchildren  to  live  in  the 
average  far  longer,  and  fall  far  less  frequently  into 
the  hands  of  the  doctors,  than  we  do." 

Mr.  Greeley  continues  as  follows :  — 

"  My  wife,  whose  acquaintance  I  made  at  the  Gra- 
ham House,  and  who  was  long  a  more  faithful,  con- 
sistent disciple  of  Graham  than  I  was,  in  our  years  of 
extreme  poverty  kept  her  house  in  strict  accordance 


HORACE  GREELEY'S  TEMPERANCE.          115 

with  her  convictions,  never  even  deigning  an  expla- 
nation to  her  friends  and  relatives  who  from  time  to 
time  visited  and  temporarily  sojourned  with  us ;  and, 
as  politeness  usually  repressed  complaint  or  inquiry 
on  their  part,  their  first  experiences  of  a  regimen 
which  dispensed  with  all  they  deemed  most  appetizing 
could  hardly  be  observed  without  a  smile.  Usually  a 
day,  or  at  most  two,  of  beans  and  potatoes,  boiled  rice, 
puddings,  bread  and  butter,  with  no  condiment  but 
salt,  and  never  a  pickle,  was  all  they  could  abide  :  so, 
bidding  her  a  kind  adieu,  each  in  turn  departed  to 
seek  elsewhere  a  more  congenial  hospitality. 

"  '  But  what  peculiar  effects  of  a  vegetable  diet  did 
you  experience  ? '  some  will  naturally  ask.  I  answer 
generally,  '  Much  the  same  as  a  rum-drinker  notes 
after  a  brief  return  'to  water-drinking  exclusively.  I 
first  felt  a  quite  perceptible  sinking  of  animal  spirits, 
a  partial  relaxation  or  depression  of  natural  energies. 
It  seemed  as  though  I  could  not  lift  so  much,  jump  so 
high,  nor  run  so  fast,  as  when  I  ate  meat.  After  a 
time,  this  lowering  of  the  tone  of  the  physical  system 
passed  away,  or  became  imperceptible :  on  the  other 
hand,  I  had  no  feeling  of  repletion  or  over-fulness ;  I 
had  no  headache,  and  scarcely  an  ache  of  any  sort ; 
my  health  was  stubbornly  good  ;  and  any  cut  or  other 
flesh-wound  healed  more  easily  and  rapidly  than  for- 
merly. Other  things  being  equal,  I  judge  that  a  strict 


116  LITE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

vegetarian  will  live  ten  years  longer  than  an  habitual 
flesh-eater,  while  suffering,  in  the  average,  less  than 
half  so  much  from  sickness  as  the  carnivorous  must. 
The  simple  fact  that  animals  are  often  diseased  when 
killed  for  food,  and  that  the  flesh  of  those  borne  in 
crowded  cars  from  far  inland,  to  be  slaughtered  for 
the  sustenance  of  sea-board  cities,  is  almost  always 
and  inevitably  feverish  and  unwholesome,  ought  to  be 
conclusive. 

"  On  the  whole,  I  am  convinced  by  the  observation 
and  experience  of  a  third  of  a  century  that  all  public 
danger  lies  in  the  direction  opposite  to  that  of  vege- 
tarianism ;  that  a  thousand  fresh  Grahams  let  loose 
each  year  upon  the  public  will  not  prevent  the  con- 
sumption, in  the  average,  of  far  too  much  and  too 
highly-seasoned  animal  food ;  while  all  Goughs  and 
Neal  Dows  that  ever  were  or  can  be  scared  up  will 
not  deter  the  body  politic  from  pouring  down  its 
throat  a  great  deal  more  fire-water  than  is  good  for  it. 
And,  while  I  look  with  interest  on  all  attempts  to 
substitute  American  wines  and  malt  liquors  for  the 
more  concentrated  and  maddening  decoctions  of  the 
still,  I  have  noted  no  such  permanent  triumphs  in 
the  thousand  past  attempts  to  cast  out  big  devils  by 
the  incantations  of  little  ones  as  would  give  me  rea- 
son to  put  faith  in  the  principle,  or  augur  success  for 
this  latest  experiment." 


HOB  ACE  GKEELEY'S  TEMPERANCE.         117 

No  one  can  accuse  Horace  Greeley  of  ever  hav- 
ing been  intemperate  either  in  eating  or  drinking. 
Would  he  not  in  this  respect  make  a  model  presi- 
dent? Cannot  all  the  temperance  people,  even  the 
most  radical  of  them,  vote  for  him  with  a  good  con- 
science, if  their  desire  for  the  triumph  of  this  cause 
is  paramount  to  that  of  party  politics  ?  These  are 
important  questions  for  them  to  answer  at  the  polls, 
—  answer,  not  by  words,  by  speeches,  and  newspaper 
articles,  but  by  deeds  ;  for  here  they  have  an  opportu- 
nity to  manifest  their  love  to  the  cause  they  advocate 
by  casting  their  votes  for  a  man  who  for  a  lifetime 
has  espoused  their  cause.  We  shall  see  how  much 
they  really  love  this  good  cause. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MR.    GREELEY   AND   "THE  TRIBUNE." 

Mr.  Greeley  had  tried  his  Fortune  with  Several  Journals.  —  He  starts  "  The 
Tribune  "  Alone.  —  Takes  a  Partner.  —  Their  Adaptedness  to  Each  Other. 
—  "The  Tribune"  a  Success.  — "Fanny  Fern's " Adventure  to  get  a 
Copy.  —  "  The  Tribune  "  a  Whig  Paper.  —  It  attacks  the  New- York  City 
Government;  also  the  Theatre-Goers.  —  Is  pounced  upon  by  the  Other 
Papers.  —  Mr.  Greeley  justifies  his  Course  towards  John  Tyler.  —  He  tells 
what  he  wanted  "  The  Tribune "  to  be  from  the  first.  —  How  Candi- 
dates for  Public  Favor  are  used. 

MR.  GREELEY  had  now  tried  his  fortune  in 
various  partnerships  and  papers,  and  in  1841, 
the  time  when  he  projected  and  started  "  The  Trib- 
une," was  about  even  with  the  world.  He  had  been 
honest,  paid  all  his  debts,  and  maintained  a  good 
character  for  uprightness  and  integrity.  Upon  these 
he  started  the  paper.  It  was  to  be  Whig,  and  cheap : 
these  were  to  be  its  characteristics.  Though  there 
were  then  many  papers  in  New  York,  yet  there  was 
none  of  this  peculiar  kind.  There  were  Whig 
papers,  like  "  The  Courier  and  Enquirer  "  and  "  The 
Commercial  Advertiser ;  "  but  they  were  ten  dollars 

118 


MB.   GREELEY  AND   "THE  TRIBUNE."          119 

a  year.  There  were  also  cheap  papers,  —  "  The  Sig- 
nal," «  Tatler,"  "  Star,"  and  "  Sun  ; "  but  no  one  of 
them  was  decidedly  Whig. 

In  some  respects,  events  were  unpropitious.  Harri- 
son had  just  died,  and  gloom  seemed  to  overcast  the 
triumph  of  his  election,  as  it  began  to  be  whispered 
that  the  party  had  got  more  than  it  bargained  for  by 
taking 

"  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too." 

But  April  10,  1841,  "  The  Tribune  "  made  its  appear- 
ance, "price  one  cent;  Horace  Greeley  editor  and 
proprietor."  It  was  headed  with  the  dying  words  of 
Harrison :  "  I  DESIRE  YOU  TO  UNDERSTAND  THE  TRUE 

PRINCIPLES  OP  THE  GOVERNMENT.  I  WISH  THEM  CAR- 
RIED OUT.  I  ASK  NOTHING  MORE." 

Mr.  Greeley  spent  the  whole  night  in  watching  the 
coming-forth  of  the  first  number  of  "  The  Tribune." 
It  was  an  unpropitious  morning ;  and  some  time  after- 
wards Mr.  Greeley  wrote  of  it,  "  The  leaden  sky, 
the  unseasonable  wintriness,  the  general  gloom,  of 
that  stormy  day  which  witnessed  the  grand  though 
mournful  pageant  whereby  our  city  commemorated 
the  blighting  of  a  nation's  hopes  in  the  most  untimely 
-death  of  President  Harrison,  were  not  inaptly  minia- 
tured in  my  own  prospects  and  fortunes.  Having 
devoted  the  seven  preceding  years  almost  wholly  to 


120  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

the  establishment  of  a  weekly  compend  of  literature 
and  intelligence  ('The  New-Yorker'),  wherefrom, 
though  widely  circulated  and  warmly  praised,  I  had 
received  no  other  return  than  the  experience  and 
wider  acquaintance  thence  accruing,  I  entered  upon 
my  novel  and  most  precarious  enterprise,  most  slen- 
derly with  the  external  means  of  commanding  sub- 
sistence and  success  in  its  prosecution.  With  no 
partner  or  business-associate,  with  inconsiderable  pe- 
cuniary resources,  and  only  a  promise  from  political 
friends  of  aid  to  the  extent  of  two  thousand  dollars, 
of  which  but  one-half  was  ever  realized  (and  that 
long  since  repaid ;  but  the  sense  of  obligation  to  the 
far- from- weal  thy  friend  who  made  the  loan  is  none  the 
less  fresh  and  ardent),  I  undertook  the  enterprise  — 
at  all  times  and  under  any  circumstances  hazardous 
—  of  adding  one  more  to  the  already  amply-extensive 
list  of  daily  newspapers  issued  in  this  emporium, 
where  the  current  expenses  of  such  papers,  already 
appalling,  were  soon  to  be  doubled  by  rivalry,  by  stim- 
ulated competition,  by  the  progress  of  business,  the 
complications  of  interests,  and  especially  by  the  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  the  electric  telegraph,  and  where  at 
least  nineteen  out  of  every  twenty  attempts  to  estab- 
lish a  new  daily  have  proved  disastrous  failures. 
Manifestly  the  prospects  of  success  in  this  case  were 
far  from  flattering." 


MB.    GREELEY   AND    "  THE   TRIBUNE."          121 

In  one  of  the  numbers  of  "  The  Log-Cabin,"  pub- 
lislied  the  3d  of  April,  just  after  the  death  of  Harri- 
son, the  following  notice  appeared:  — 

" '  NEW- YORK  TRIBUNE.' 

"  On  Saturday,  the  tenth  day  of  April  instant,  the  sub- 
scriber will  publish  the  first  number  of  a  new  morning 
journal  of  politics,  literature,  and  general  intelligence. 

" '  The  Tribune,'  as  its  name  imports,  will  labor  to 
advance  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  to  promote 
their  moral,  social,  and  political  well-being.  The  im- 
moral and  degrading  police-reports,  advertisements,  and 
other  matter  which  have  been  allowed  to  disgrace  the 
columns  of  our  leading  penny-papers,  will  be  carefully 
excluded  from  this,  and  no  exertion  spared  to  render 
it  worthy  of  the  hearty  approval  of  the  virtuous  and 
refined,  and  a  welcome  visitant  at  the  family  fireside. 

"  Earnestly  believing  that  the  political  revolution 
which  has  called  William  Henry  Harrison  to  the 
chief  magistracy  of  the  nation  was  a  triumph  of 
right,  reason,  and  public  good,  over  error  and  sinis- 
ter ambition,  'The  Tribune'  will  give  to  the  new 
administration  a  frank  and  cordial,  but  manly  and 
independent  support,  judging  it  always  by  its  acts, 
and  commending  those  only  so  far  as  they  shall  seem 
calculated  to  subserve  the  great  end  of  all  govern- 
ment,—  the  welfare  of  the  people. 
11 


122  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  '  The  Tribune '  will  b.e  published  every  morning 
on  a  fair,  royal  sheet, —  size  of  '  The  Log-Cabin  '  and 
'Evening  Signal,' — and  transmitted  to  its  city  sub- 
scribers at  the  low  price  of  one  cent  per  copy.  Mail 
subscribers,  four  dollars  per  annum.  It  will  contain 
the  news  by  the  morning's  Southern  mail,  which  is 
contained  in  no  other  penny-paper.  Subscriptions 
are  respectfully  solicited  by 

"  HORACE  GREELEY,  30  Ann  Street." 

"  The  Tribune "  from  its  commencement  was  a 
success,  though  several  attempts  were  made  to  crush 
it.  Many  who  had  taken  other  papers  stopped  them, 
and  took  the  new  paper.  One  of  our  authoresses 
gives  the  following  interesting  account  of  her  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  to  get  one :  — 

To  the  Editor  of  "  The  New -York  Tribune." 

SIR,  —  Not  long  since,  I  read  in  your  paper  an 
article  headed  "  The  Man  who  never  took  a  News- 
paper." In  contrast  to  this,  I  would  relate  to  you  a 
little  incident  which  came  under  my  own  observation. 

Having  been  disappointed  the  other  morning  in 
receiving  that  part  of  my  breakfast  contained  in  "  The 
New- York  Tribune,"  I  despatched  a  messenger  to  see 
what  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  satisfaction.  After 
half  an  hour's  diligent  search,  he  returned,  much  to 


toR.   GREELEY  AND   "  THE  TRIBUNE."         123 

my  chagrin,  empty-handed.  Recollecting  an  old 
copy  set  me  at  school  after  this  wise,  "  If  you  want 
a  thing  done,  do  it  yourself,"  I  seized  my  bonnet, 
and  sallied  forth.  Not  far  from  my  domicile  appears 
each  morning  with  the  rising  sun  an  old  huckster- 
man,  whose  stock  in  trade  consists  of  two  empty 
barrels,  across  which  is  thrown  a  pro  tern  counter  in 
the  shape  of  a  plank,  a  pint  of  pea-nuts,  six  sticks 
of  peppermint-candy,  half  a  dozen  cholera-looking 
pears  and  apples,  copies  of  the  daily  papers,  and  an 
old  stubby  broom,  with  which  the  owner  carefully 
brushes  up  the  nut-shells  dropped  by  graceless  ur- 
chins to  the  endangerment  of  his  sidewalk  lease. 

"  Have  you  this  morning's  '  Tribune  '  ?  "  said  I, 
looking  as  amiable  as  I  knew  how. 

"  No,  ma'am"  was  the  decided  reply. 

"  Why,  yes,  you  have,"  said  I,  laying  my  hand  on 
the  desired  number. 

"  Well,  you  can't  have  that,  ma'am,"  said  the  dis- 
concerted peanut-merchant;  "for  I  haven't  read  it 
myself." 

"  I'll  give  you  three  cents  for  it,"  said  I. 

(A  shake  of  the  head.) 

"  Four  cents  ?  " 

(Another  shake.) 

"  Sixpence  ?  "  (I  was  getting  excited.) 

"  It's  no  use,  ma'am,"  said  the  persistent  old  fellow. 


124  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  It's  the  only  number  I  could  get ;  and  I  tell  you 
that  nobody  shall  have  that  '  Tribune '  till  I  have 
read  it  myself." 

You  should  have  seen,  Mr.  Editor,  the  shapeless 
hat,  the  mosaic  coat,  the  tattered  vest,  and  the  extraor- 
dinary pair  of  trousers,  that  were  educated  up  to 
that  "  Tribune."  It  was  a  picture.  FANNY  FERN. 

Fight  was  the  word  with  "  The  Tribune  "  when  it 
was  opposed ;  and  others  outside  took  up  the  cudgel 
when  the  other  papers  attacked  it.  Its  success  was 
great.  But  one  thing  seemed  necessary  to  its  ultimate 
triumph.  Mr.  Greeley  must  have  a  partner  ;  and  he 
found  one;  for  on  Saturday,  July  31,  he  made  the 
following  announcement :  "  The  undersigned  has  great 
pleasure  in  announcing  to  his  friends  and  the  public 
that  he  has  formed  a  copartnership  with  Thomas 
McElrath  ;  and  '  The  Tribune  '  will  hereafter  be  pub- 
lished by  himself  and  Mr.  McElrath  under  the 
firm  of  Greeley  and  McElrath.  The  principal  edi- 
torial charge  of  the  paper  will  still  rest  with  the 
subscriber  ;  while  the  entire  business-management  of 
the  concern  henceforth  devolves  upon  his  partner. 
This  arrangement,  while  it  relieves  the  undersigned 
from  a  large  portion  of  the  labors  and  cares  which 
have  pressed  heavily  upon  him  for  the  last  four 
months,  assures  to  the  paper  efficiency  and  strength 


ME.    GKEELEY  AND   "THE  TRIBUNE."         125 

in  a  department  where  they  have  hitherto  been 
needed  ;  and  I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  the  trust  that 
the  accession  to  its  conduct  of  a  gentleman  who  has 
twice  been  honored  with  their  suffrages  for  an  impor- 
tant station  will  strengthen  '  The  Tribune '  in  the 
confidence  ajid  affections  of  the  Whigs  of  New  York. 
"  Respectfully,  "  HORACE  GBEELEY. 

"JULY  31." 

"  The  undersigned,  in  connecting  himself  with  the 
conduct  of  a  public  journal,  invokes  a  continuance  of 
that  courtesy  and  good  feeling  which  have  been  ex- 
tended to  him  by  his  fellow-citizens.  Having  hereto- 
fore received  evidence  of  kindness  and  regard  from 
the  conductors  of  the  Whig  press  of  this  city,  and  re- 
joicing in  the  friendship  of  most  of  them,  it  will  be 
his  aim  in  his  new  vocation  to  justify  that  kindness, 
and  strengthen  and  increase  those  friendships.  His 
hearty  concurrence  in  the  principles,  political  and 
moral,  on  which  '  The  Tribune '  has  thus  far  been 
conducted,  has  been  a  principal  incitement  to  the  con- 
nection here  announced  ;  and  the  statement  of  this 
fact  will  preclude  the  necessity  of  any  special  declara- 
tion of  opinions.  With  gratitude  for  past  favors,  and 
an  anxious  desire  to  merit  a  continuance  of  regard, 
he  remains 

"  The  public's  humble  servant, 

"THOMAS  MCELBATH." 
11* 


126  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  The  Tribune  "  had  now  precisely  what  it  needed 
to  put  it  on  a  firm  basis, —  Horace  Greeley  for  the 
editor,  and  Thomas  McElrath  for  managing  the  busi- 
ness-department. By  this  time,  everybody  knew  what 
Mr.  Greeley  was  as  editor ;  for  he  had  abundantly 
shown  what  he  could  do  in  "  The  New-Yorker,"  "  The 
Jeffersonian,"  "  The  Log-Cabin,"  &c.  His  friends 
knew  his  ability  to  defend  them  and  the  principles  he 
espoused.  His  enemies  of  rival  newspapers  had  felt 
his  bite  when  they  drove  him  to  show  his  teeth,  and 
his  political  opposers  had  learned  to  be  shy  of  him. 

McElrath  was  a  different  kind  of  a  man.  He  was 
the  perfection  of  a  disciplinarian ;  a  first-rate  calcu- 
lator, who  knew  how  to  save  the  pennies :  hence  Mr. 
Parton,  in  his  Life  of  Mr.  Greeley,  well  said,  "  Eoll 
Horace  Greeley  and  Thomas  McElrath  into  one,  and 
the  result  would  be  a  very  respectable  approximation 
to  a  perfect  man."  They  were  well  matched  in 
partnership.  Damon  and  Pythias  were  not  more 
firm  friends,  and  they  worked  in  perfect  harmony. 

When  "  The  New-Yorker "  had  existed  seven 
years,  and  "  The  Log-Cabin  "  one  year  and  a  half, 
they  were  both  merged  in  "  The  Weekly  Tribune." 
No  hive  of  bees  was  ever  more  industrious  than  the 
editor  and  manager  of  "  The  Tribune  "  now  were. 
The  paper  teemed  with  all  the  news  of  the  day.  It 
was  freighted  with  every  thing  that  made  its  appear- 


MB.   GBEELEY  AND   "THE  TRIBUNE."         127 

ance  in  the  literary  world.  Carlyle,  Cousin,  Thomas 
Moore,  Millerisin,  and  many  celebrated  legal  trials, 
were  on  the  docket  in  those  days  ;  and  they  were  all 
thoroughly  handled  in  "  The  Tribune."  The  corrupt 
city  government  was  attacked,  and  set  in  its  true  light, 
as  it  has  been  more  recently;  and  the  theatre  came  in 
under  the  following  lashing :  "  The  whole  moral 
atmosphere  of  the  theatre,  as  it  actually  exists  among 
us,  is,  in  our  judgment,  unwholesome  ;  and  therefore, 
while  we  do  not  propose  to  war  upon  it,  we  seek  no 
alliance  with  it,  and  cannot  conscientiously  urge  our 
readers  to  visit  it,  as  would  be  expected  if  we  were  to 
solicit  and  profit  by  its  advertising  patronage." 

This  frank  and  open  rebuke  caused  an  outbreak  and 
burst  of  abuse  from  the  other  papers,  which  the  con- 
ductors of  "  The  Tribune  "  bore  with  great  calmness. 
Of  course,  all  who  advertised  for  what  "  The  Tribune  " 
called  "  contraband  "  united  in  an  avalanche  of  abuse 
upon  the  paper  which  condemned  them. 

Having  been  condemned  for  its  course  in  justifying 
Daniel  Webster  for  continuing  in  the  cabinet  of  John 
Tyler  after  all  his  colleagues  had  resigned,  "  The  Trib- 
une "  justified  its  course  upon  the  ground  that  Web- 
ster could  best  bring  to  a  happy  close  the  Ashburton 
Treaty,  then  pending. 

Again  :  Mr.  Greeley  was  condemned  for  his  course  in 
the  Tyler  controversy ;  upon  which,  in  1845,  lie  wrote 


128  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

as  follows :  "  In  December,  1841,  I  visited  Washing- 
ton upon  assurances  that  John  Tyler  and  his  advisers 
were  disposed  to  return  to  the  Whig  party,  and  that  I 
could  be  of  service  in  bringing  about  a  complete  recon- 
ciliation between  the  administration  and  the  Whigs  in 
Congress  and  in  the  country.  I  never  proposed  to 
'  connect  myself  with  the  cause  of  the  administration  ' 
but  upon  the  understanding  that  it  should  be  heartily 
and  faithfully  a  Whig  administration.  Finally,  I  de- 
clined utterly  and  absolutely  to  '  connect  myself  with 
the  cause  of  the  administration '  the  moment  I  became 
satisfied,  as  I  did  during  that  visit,  that  the  chief  of 
the  government  did  not  desire  a  reconciliation,  upon 
the  basis  of  sustaining  Whig  principles  and  Whig  meas- 
ures, with  the  party  he  had  so  deeply  wronged,  but 
was  treacherously  coquetting  with  Locofocoism,  and 
fooled  with  the  idea  of  a  re-election." 

Mr.  Greeley's  own  account  of  what  he  from  the  first 
designed  "  The  Tribune "  should  be  is  given  in  his 
"  Recollections,"  as  follows :  "  My  leading  idea  was 
the  establishment  of  a  journal  removed  alike  from  ser- 
vile partisanship  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  gagged, 
mincing  neutrality  on  the  other. 

"  Party-spirit  is  so  fierce  and  intolerant  in  this  coun- 
try, that  the  editor  of  a  non-partisan  sheet  is  restrained 
from  saying  what  he  thinks  and  feels  on  the  most  vital, 
imminent  topics ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  Demo- 


ME.    GREELEY   AND    "  THE   TRIBUNE."         129 

cratic,  Whig,  or  Republican  journal  is  generally  ex- 
pected to  praise  or  blame,  like  or  dislike,  eulogize  or 
condemn,  in  precise  accordance  with  the  views  and 
interest  of  its  party.  I  believed  there  was  a  happy 
medium  between  these  extremes,  —  a  position  from 
which  a  journalist  might  openly  and  heartily  advocate 
the  principles  and  commend  the  measures  of  that  party 
to  which  his  convictions  allied  him,  yet  frankly  dissent 
from  its  course  on  a  particular  question,  and  even  de- 
nounce its  candidates  if  they  were  shown  to  be  deficient 
in  capacity  or  (far  worse)  in  integrity.  I  felt  that  a 
journal  thus  loyal  to  its  guiding  convictions,  yet  ready 
to  expose  and  condemn  unworthy  conduct  or  inci- 
dental error  on  the  part  of  men  attached  to  its  party, 
must  be  far  more  effective,  even  party-wise,  than  though 
it  might  always  be  counted  on  to  applaud  or  repro- 
bate, bless  or  curse,  as  the  party's  prejudices  or  imme- 
diate interest  might  seem  to  prescribe.  Especially  by 
the  Whigs  —  who  were  rather  the  loosely  aggregated, 
mainly  undisciplined  opponents  of  a  great  party,  than, 
in  the  stricter  sense,  a  party  themselves  —  did  I  feel 
that  such  a  journal  was  consciously  needed,  and  would 
be  fairly  sustained.  I  had  been  a  pretty  constant  and 
copious  contributor  (generally  unpaid)  to  nearly  or 
quite  every  cheap  Whig  journal  that  had,  from  time  to 
time,  been  started  in  our  city,  —  most  of  them  to  fail 
after  a  very  brief  and  not  particularly  bright  career. 


130  LIFE   OP   HORACE   GREELEY. 

But  one,  '  The  New- York  Whig,'  which  was,  through- 
out most  of  its  existence,  under  the  dignified  and  con- 
scientious direction  of  Jacob  B.  Moore,  formerly  of 
'  The  New-Hampshire  Journal,'  had  been  continued 
through  two  or  three  years.  My  familiarity  with  its 
history  and  management  gave  me  confidence  that  the 
right  sort  of  a  cheap  Whig  journal  would  be  enabled  to 
thrive.  I  had  been  ten  years  in  New  York  ;  was  thirty 
years  old ;  in  full  health  and  vigor ;  and  worth,  I  pre- 
sume, about  two  thousand  dollars,  half  of  it  in  printing- 
materials.  '  The  Jeffersonian,'  and,  still  more,  '  The 
Log-Cabin,'  had  made  me  favorably  known  to  many 
thousands  of  those  who  were  most  likely  to  take  such 
a  paper  as  I  proposed  to  make  '  The  Tribune ; '  while 
1  The  New-Yorker '  had  given  me  some  literary  stand- 
ing, and  the  reputation  of  a  useful  and  well-informed 
compiler  of  election-returns.  In  short,  I  was  in  a 
better  position  to  undertake  the  establishment  of  a 
daily  newspaper  than  the  great  mass  of  those  who  try 
it  and  fail,  as  most  who  make  the  venture  do  and  must. 
I  presume  the  new  journals  (in  English)  since  started 
in  this  city  number  not  less  than  a  hundred,  whereof 
barely  two  — '  The  Times '  and  '  The  World '  —  can 
be  fairly  said  to  be  still  living ;  and  '  The  World '  is  a 
mausoleum  wherein  the  remains  of  '  The  Evening 
Star,'  '  The  American,'  and  '  The  Courier  and  En- 
quirer,' lie  muriied,  these  having  long  ago  swallowed 


MB.   GREELEY  ASTD   "THE  TllLBUNE."          131 

sundry  of  their  predecessors.  Yet  several  of  those 
which  have  meantime  lived  their  little  hour  and  passed 
away  were  conducted  by  men  of  decided  ability  and 
ripe  experience,  and  were  backed  by  a  pecuniary  capi- 
tal at  least  twenty  times  greater  than  the  fearfully 
inadequate  sum  whereon  I  started  '  The  Tribune.' ' 

Many  of  those  who  have  been  owners  or  were  en- 
gaged upon  "  The  Tribune "  have  passed  away : 
nevertheless  the  paper  still  lives  and  prospers.  Mr. 
Greeley  says,  "  My  current  expenses  for  the  first  week 
were  about  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  my 
receipts  ninety-two  dollars ;  and,  though  the  outgoes 
steadily  increased,  the  income  increased  in  a  still 
larger  ratio,  till  it  nearly  balanced  the  former." 

It  required  both  faith  and  perseverance  to  go  for- 
ward with  such  a  work  ;  and  Horace  Greeley  possessed 
both.  The  expenditure  for  carrying  on  this  paper  has 
been  vast ;  but  the  income  has  been  enormous.  It  is 
no  doubt  destined  to  live  and  flourish  for  a  long  time 
to  come.  Mr.  Greeley  must  look  upon  this  work  of 
his  hands,  and  plan  of  his  intellect,  —  this  singular 
success,  —  with  much  complacency.  He  says  in  his 
"  Recollections,"  "  Fame  is  a  vapor,  popularity  an 
accident ;  riches  take  wings ;  no  man  can  see  what  a 
day  may  bring  forth ;  while  those  who  cheer  to-day 
will  often  curse  to-morrow,"  —  all  of  which  he  has  a 
fair  opportunity  of  knowing  and  feeling  in  his  own  per- 


132  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

son,  now  that  he  is  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of 
the  United  States  of  America;  for,  if  he  escapes  cen- 
sure, he  will  be  the  first  candidate  for  this  high  office 
who  ever  has. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
"THE  TRIBUNE"  CONTINUED. 

"  The  Tribune  "  changed  to  a  Two-Cent  Paper.  —  A  Mob  in  New  York.  — 
Mr.  Greeley's  First  Visit  to  Washington.  —  His  Letter  from  Mount  Ver- 
non.  —  From  Saratoga.  —  Margaret  Fuller  and  Mr.  Greeley.  —  Mr.  Gree- 
ley's Opinion  of  John  Tyler.  —  Burning  of  "  The  Tribune"  Building.  — 
Mr.  Greeley's  Description  of  it  afterwards. 

r  I  CHOUGH  this  paper  was  started  as  a  penny  paper, 
-J-  yet,  when  the  second  volume  was  commenced, 
the  price  was  raised  to  two  cents.  New  York,  then 
(1842)  as  since,  was  of  a  riotous  disposition  ;  and,  on 
the  day  of  the  spring  elections,  certain  fighting-men 
of  the  sixth  ward  indulged  in  their  pugilistic  game, 
and  became  rioters.  "  The  Tribune  "  came  out  with 
the  following  rebuke  among  others :  "  It  appears  that 
some  of  the  '  Spartan  band,'  headed  by  Michael  Walsh, 
after  a  fight  in  the  fourth  district  of  the  sixth  ward, 
paraded  up  Centre  Street,  opposite  the  halls  of  jus- 
tice, to  the  neighborhood  of  the  poll  of  the  third  dis- 
trict, where,  after  marching  and  counter-marching,  the 
leader  Walsh  recommenced  the  work  of  violence  by 

12  138 


134  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GKEELEY. 

knocking  down  an  unoffending  individual  who  was 
following"  near  him.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  general 
attack  of  this  band  upon  the  Irish  population,  who 
were  knocked  down  in  every  direction  until  the  street 
was  literally  strewed  with  their  prostrate  bodies. 
After  this  demonstration  of  Spartan  valor  the  Irish 
fled,  and  the  band  moved  on  to  another  poll  to  re- 
enact  their  deeds  of  violence.  In  the  interim  the 
Irish  proceeded  to  rally  their  forces,  and,  armed 
with  sticks  of  cord-wood  and  clubs,  paraded  through 
Centre  Street  about  three  hundred  strong,  attacking 
indiscriminately,  and  knocking  down  nearly  all  who 
came  in  their  way ;  some  of  their  victims,  bruised  and 
bloody,  having  to  be  carried  into  the  police-office  and 
the  prison  to  protect  them  from  being  murdered.  A 
portion  of  the  Irish  then  dispersed  ;  while  another 
portion  proceeded  to  a  house  in  Orange  Street,  which 
they  attacked,  and  riddled  from  top  to  bottom.  Re- 
uniting their  scattered  forces,  the  Irish  bands  again, 
with  increased  numbers,  marched  up  Centre  Street, 
driving  all  before  them :  and,  when  near  the  halls  of 
justice,  the  cry  was  raised, '  Americans,  stand  firm  ! ' 
when  a  body  of  nearly  a  thousand  voters  surrounded 
the  Irish  bands,  knocked  them  down,  and  beat  them 
without  mercy ;  while  some  of  the  fallen  Irish  were 
with  difficulty  rescued  from  the  violence  that  would 
have  destroyed  them  had  they  not  been  hurried  in.to 


"THE  TRIBUNE"  CONTINUED.  135 

the  police-office  and  prison  as  a  place  of  refuge.  In 
this  encounter,  or  the  one  that  preceded  it,  a  man 
named  Ford,  said  to  be  one  of  the  Spartans,  was 
carried  into  the  police-office  beaten  almost  to  death, 
and  was  subsequently  transferred  to  the  hospital." 

Immediately  after  this  appeared,  two  stout  men 
made  their  ingress  into  the  office  of  "  The  Tribune,'* 
and  declared  that  this  account  of  the  riot  was  incor- 
rect and  unjust,  and  they  expected  to  see  it  corrected 
in  the  next  issue  of  the  paper ;  but,  as  that  was  not 
done,  a  second  visit  was  made  to  the  office  by  the  two 
fighting  gentlemen.  Bitter  words  were  uttered,  and 
sharp  threats  were  made,  that,  unless  a  recantation 
were  made  in  the  next  paper,  they  would  "  smash  the 
office."  The  next  paper  gave  a  full  history  of  the 
affair,  and  condemned  the  rioters  in  unmistakable 
terms.  The  "  Bloody  Sixth"  were  in  a  rage  ;  and  the 
operators  of  "  The  Tribune  "  put  themselves  in  an  at- 
titude of  defence.  One  of  the  conductors  of  the  pa- 
per, being  a  member  of  the  City  Guard,  obtained  the 
muskets  of  that  body,  and  had  them  conveyed  to  the 
"  Tribune  "  building.  One  of  them  was  placed  near 
Mr.  Greeley,  who  looked  up,  and  said,  "  I  guess  they 
won't  come  down,"  and  resumed  his  writing.  Every 
preparation  was  made  to  give  the  rioters  a  warm  re- 
ception should  they  appear  to  "  smash  the  office." 
The  steam-pipe  was  conveyed  from  the  safety-valve  of 


136  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

the  boiler,  and  placed  where  it  commanded  the  front 
stairs,  by  which  the  virtue  of  hot  water  was  to  be  tried 
upon  the  invaders.  The  men  from  other  offices,  also, 
joined  with  the  "  Tribune  "  defenders,  as  they  con- 
sidered it  an  attack  on  the  freedom  of  the  press; 
but  the  good  story  was  spoiled  by  the  non-appearance 
of  the  "  Bloody  Sixth." 

During  the  year  of  the  second  volume  of  "The 
Tribune,"  Mr.  Greeley  took  a  trip  to  Washington, 
Mount  Vernon,  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Niagara.  During  this  tour  he  corresponded  for 
"  The  Tribune,"  giving  vivid  descriptions  of  the  sena- 
tors and  representatives  in  Washington. 

He  wrote  as  follows  from  Mount  Vernon :  "  Slowly, 
pensively,  we  turned  our  faces  from  the  rest  of  the 
mighty  dead  to  the  turmoil  of  the  restless  living;  from 
the  solemn,  sublime  repose  of  Mount  Vernon  to  the 
ceaseless  intrigues,  the  petty  strifes,  the  ant-hill  bustle, 
of  the  Federal  City.  Each  has  its  own  atmosphere : 
London  and  Mecca  are  not  so  unlike  as  they.  The 
silent,  enshrouding  woods,  the  gleaming,  majestic 
river,  the  bright,  benignant  sky,  —  it  is  fitly  here, 
amid  the  scenes  he  loved  and  hallowed,  that  the  man 
whose  life  and  character  have  redeemed  patriotism 
and  liberty  from  the  reproach  which  centuries  of 
designing  knavery  and  hollow  profession  had  cast 
upon  them,  now  calmly  awaits  the  trump  of  the 


"THE  TBIBUNE"  CONTINUED.  137 

archangel.  Who  does  not  rejoice  that  the  original 
design  of  removing  his  ashes  to  the  city  has  never 
been  consummated ;  that  they  lie  where  the  pilgrim 
may  reverently  approach  them,  unvexed  by  the  light 
laugh  of  the  time-killing  worldling,  unannoyed  by 
the  vain  or  vile  scribblings  of  the  thoughtless  or  the 
base  ?  Thus  may  they  repose  forever,  that  the  heart 
of  the  patriot  may  be  invigorated,  the  hopes  of  the 
philanthropist  strengthened  and  his  aims  exalted, 
the  pulse  of  the  American  quickened  and  his  aspira- 
tions purified,  by  a  visit  to  Mount  Yernou  !  " 
"While  at  Niagara  he  wrote  the  following :  — 
"  Years,  though  not  many,  have  weighed  upon  me 
since  first  in  boyhood  I  gazed  from  the  deck  of  a 
canal-boat  upon  the  distant  cloud  of  white  vapor 
which  marked  the  position  of  the  world's  great  cata- 
ract, and  listened  to  catch  the  rumbling  of  its  deep 
thunders.  Circumstances  did  not  then  permit  me  to 
gratify  my  strong  desire  of  visiting  it ;  and  now,  when 
I  am  tempted  to  wonder  at  the  stolidity  of  those  who 
live  within  a  day's  journey,  yet  live  on  through  half 
a  century  without  one  glance  at  the  mighty  torrent,  I 
am  checked  by  the  reflection  that  I  myself  passed 
within  a  dozen  miles  of  it  no  less  than  five  times 
before  I  was  able  to  enjoy  its  magnificence.  The 
propitious  hour  came  at  last,  however ;  and  after  a 
disappointed  gaze  from  the  upper  terrace  on  the  Brit- 
is* 


138  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GKEELEY. 

ish  side  (in  which  I  half  feared  that  the  sheet  of 
broken  and  boiling  water  above  was  all  the  cataract 
that  existed),  and  rapid,  tortuous  descent  by  the 
woody  declivity,  I  stood  at  length  on  Table  Rock, 
and  the  whole  immensity  of  the  tremendous  ava- 
lanche of  waters  burst  at  once  on  my  arrested  vision, 
while  awe  struggled  with  amazement  for  the  mastery 
of  my  soul. 

"  This  was  late  in  October.  I  have  twice  visited  the 
scene  amid  the  freshness  and  beauty  of  June  ;  but 
I  think  the  late  autumn  is  by  far  the  better  season. 
There  is  then  a  sternness  in  the  sky,  a  plaintive 
melancholy  in  the  sighing  of  the  wind  through  the 
mottled  forest-foliage,  which  harmonize  better  with 
the  spirit  of  the  scene.  For  the  Genius  of  Niagara, 
0  friend !  is  never  a  laughter-loving  spirit.  For  the 
gaudy  vanities,  the  petty  pomps,  the  light  follies,  of 
the  hour,  he  has  small  sympathy.  Let  not  the  giddy 
heir  bring  here  his  ingots,  the  selfish  aspirant  his 
ambition,  the  libertine  his  victim,  and  hope  to  find 
enjoyment  and  gayety  in  the  presence.  Let  none 
come  here  to  nurse  his  pride  or  avarice,  or  any 
other  low  desire.  God  and  his  handiwork  here  stand 
forth  in  lone  sublimity ;  and  all  petty  doings  and  dar- 
ings of  the  ants  at  the  base  of  the  pyramid  appear  in 
their  proper  significance.  Few  can  have  visited  Niag- 
ara, and  left  it  110  humbler,  no  graver,  than  they 
came." 


"THE  TRIBUNE"  CONTINUED.  139 

When  he  returned  to  New  York,  and  recom- 
menced his  editorial  labors,  he  wrote,  "  The  senior 
editor  of  this  paper  has  returned  to  his  post  after  an 
absence  of  four  weeks,  during  which  he  has  visited 
nearly  one-half  of  the  counties  of  this  State,  and 
passed  through  portions  of  Pennsylvania,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  <fec.  During  this  time  he  has  written 
little  for  '  The  Tribune  '  save  the  casual  and  hasty 
letter  to  which  his  initials  were  subscribed ;  but  it 
need  hardly  be  said  that  the  general  course  and  con- 
duct of  the  paper  have  been  the  same  as  if  he  had 
been  at  his  post. 

"  Two  deductions  only  from  the  observations  he  has 
made  and  the  information  he  has  gathered  in  his 
tour  will  here  be  given.  They  are  these :  — 

"  1.  The  cause  of  protection  to  home-industry  is 
much  stronger  throughout  this  and  the  adjoining 
States  than  even  the  great  party  which  mainly  up- 
holds it ;  and  nothing  will  so  much  tend  to  insure  the 
election  of  Henry  Clay  for  our  next  president  as  the 
veto  of  an  efficient  tariff-bill  by  John  Tyler. 

"  2.  The  strength  of  the  Whig  party  is  unbroken 
by  recent  disasters  and  treachery,  and  only  needs  the 
proper  opportunity  to  manifest  itself  in  all  the  energy 
and  power  of  1840.  If  a  distinct  and  unequivocal 
issue  can  be  made  upon  the  great  leading  questions 
at  issue  between  the  rival  parties, — on  protection  to 


140  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

home-industry  and  internal  improvement,  —  the  Whig 
ascendency  will  be  triumphantly  vindicated  in  the 
coming  election." 

Mr.  Parton,  in  his  excellent  "  Life  of  Horace  Gree- 
ley,"  speaking  of  this  period,  says,  "  The  year  1844 
was  the  year  of  Clay  and  Frelinglmysen,  Polk  and 
Dallas ;  the  year  of  nativism,  and  the  year  of  deliri- 
ous hope  and  deep  despair ;  the  year  that  finished 
one  era  of  politics,  and  began  another ;  the  year  of 
Margaret  Fuller,  and  the  burning  of  '  The  Tribune ' 
office ;  the  year  when  Horace  Greeley  showed  his 
friends  how  hard  a  man  can  work,  how  little  he  can 
sleep,  and  yet  live.  '  The  Tribune  '  began  its  fourth 
volume  on  the  10th  of  April,  enlarged  one-third  in 
size,  with  new  type,  and  a  modest  flourish  of  trum- 
pets. It  returned  thanks  to  the  public  for  the  liberal 
support  which  had  been  extended  to  it  from  the 
beginning  of  its  career.  '  Our  gratitude,'  said  the 
editor,  '  is  the  deeper  from  our  knowledge  that  many 
of  the  views  expressed  through  our  columns  are 
unacceptable  to  a  large  proportion  of  our  readers. 
We  know  especially  that  our  advocacy  of  measures 
intended  to  meliorate  the  social  condition  of  the  toil- 
ing millions  (not  the  purpose,  but  the  means)  ;  our 
ardent  sympathy  with  the  people  of  Ireland  in  their 
protracted,  arduous,  peaceful  struggle  to  recover 
some  portion  of  the  common  rights  of  man  ;  and  nm* 


"THE  TKIBTJNE"  CONTINUED.  141 

opposition  to  the  legal  extinction  of  human  life,  — 
are,  severally  or  collectively,  regarded  with  extreme 
aversion  by  many  of  our  steadfast  patrons,  whose 
liberality  and  confidence  are  gratefully  appreciated.' 
To  the  Whig  party,  of  which  it  was  '  not  an  organ, 
but  a  humble  advocate,'  its  obligations  were  many 
and  profound.  '  The  Tribune,'  in  fact,  had  become 
the  leading  Whig  paper  of  the  country. 

"  Horace  Greeley  had  long  set  his  heart  upon 
the  election  of  Henry  Clay  to  the  presidency,  for 
some  special  reasons  besides  the  general  one  of  his 
belief  that  the  policy  identified  with  the  name  of 
Henry  Clay  was  the  true  policy  of  the  government. 
Henry  Clay  was  one  of  the  heroes  of  his  boyhood's 
admiration.  Yet  in  1840,  believing  that  Clay  could 
not  be  elected,  he  had  used  his  influence  to  promote 
the  nomination  of  Gen.  Harrison.  Then  came  the 
death  of  the  president,  the  '  apostasy '  of  Tyler,  and 
his  pitiful  attempts  to  secure  a  re-election.  The 
annexation  of  Texas  loomed  up  in  the  distance,  and 
the  repeal  of  the  tariff  of  1842.  For  these  and  other 
reasons,  Horace  Greeley  was  inflamed  with  a  desire  to 
behold  once  more  the  triumph  of  his  party,  and  to 
see  the  long  career  of  the  eminent  Kentuckian 
crowned  with  its  suitable,  its  coveted  reward.  For 
this  he  labored  as  few  men  have  ever  labored  for  any 
but  personal  objects.  He  attended  the  convention  at 


142  LIFE  OP  HORACE   GREELEY. 

Baltimore  that  nominated  the  Whig  candidates,  —  one 
of  the  largest  (and  quite  the  most  excited)  political 
assemblages  that  ever  were  gathered  in  this  country. 
During  the  summer  he  addressed  political  meetings 
three,  four,  five,  six  times  a  week.  He  travelled  far 
and  wide,  advising,  speaking,  and  in  every  way  urging 
on  the  cause.  He  wrote,  on  an  average,  four  columns 
a  day  for  '  The  Tribune.'  He  answered,  on  an 
average,  twenty  letters  a  day.  He  wrote  to  such  an 
extent,  that  his  right  arm  broke  out  in  boils  ;  and  at 
one  time  there  were  twenty  between  the  wrist  and  the 
elbow.  He  lived,  at  that  time,  a  long  distance  from 
the  office  ;  and  many  a  hot  night  he  protracted  his 
labors  till  the  last  omnibus  had  gone,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  trudge  wearily  home  after  sixteen  hours 
of  incessant  and  intense  exertion.  The  Whigs  were 
very  confident.  They  were  sure  of  victory.  But 
Horace  Greeley  knew  the  country  better.  If  every 
Whig  had  worked  as  he  worked,  how  different  had 
been  the  result !  how  different  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  country  !  how  different  its  future  !  —  we  had 
had  no  annexation  of  Texas,  no  Mexican  war,  no 
tinkering  of  the  tariff  to  keep  the  nation  provincially 
dependent  on  Europe,  no  fugitive-slave  law,  no  Pierce, 
no  Douglas,  no  Nebraska." 

Notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of  "  The  Tribune  " 
to  the  contrary,  Polk  and  Dallas  were  elected  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 


"  THE  TRIBUNE  "   CONTINUED.  143 

In  February,  1845,  "  The  Tribune  "  building  was 
burned.  Almost  every  paper  in  New  York  has  been 
burned  out  some  time,  and  some  of  them  more  than 
once.  The  following  is  Mr.  Greeley's  account  of  it :  — 

"  At  four  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  a  boy  in  our 
employment  entered  our  publication-office  as  usual, 
and  kindled  a  fire  in  the  stove  for  the  day;  after  which 
he  returned  to  the  mailing-room  below,  and  resumed 
folding  newspapers.  Half  an  hour  afterward,  a  clerk, 
who  slept  on  the  counter  of  the  publication-office,  was 
awoke  by  a  sensation  of  heat,  and  found  the  room  in 
flames.  He  escaped  with  a  slight  scorching.  A 
hasty  effort  was  made  by  two  or  three  persons  to 
extinguish  the  fire  by  casting  water  upon  it ;  but  the 
fierce  wind  then  blowing  rushed  in  as  the  doors  were 
opened,  and  drove  the  flames  through  the  building 
with  inconceivable  rapidity.  Mr.  Graham,  and  our 
clerk  Robert  M.  Strebeigh,  were  sleeping  in  the 
second  story  until  awakened  by  the  roar  of  the  flames, 
their  room  being  full  of  smoke  and  fire.  The  door 
and  stairway  being  on  fire,  they  escaped  with  only 
their  night-clothes  by  jumping  from  a  rear  window, 
each  losing  a  gold  watch,  and  Mr.  Graham  nearly 
five  hundred  dollars  in  cash,  which  was  in  his  pocket- 
book  under  his  pillow.  Robert  was  somewhat  cut  in 
the  face  on  striking  the  ground,  but  not  seriously. 
In  our  printing-office,  fifth  story,  two  compositors 


144  LITE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

weajp  at  work  making  up  '  The  Weekly  Tribune '  for 
the  press,  and  had  barely  time  to  escape  before  the 
stairway  was  in  flames.  In  the  basement  our  press- 
men were  at  work  on  '  The  Daily  Tribune  '  of  the 
morning,  and  had  printed  about  three-fourths  of  the 
edition  :  the  balance,  of  course,  went  with  every  thing 
else,  including  a  supply  of  paper  and  '  The  Weekly 
Tribune '  printed  on  one  side.  A  few  books  were 
hastily  caught  up  and  saved,  but  nothing  else,  —  not 
even  the  daily  form  on  which  the  pressmen  were 
working.  So  complete  a  destruction  of  a  daily  news- 
paper-office was  never  known.  From  the  editorial 
rooms  not  a  paper  was  saved  ;  and  besides  all  the 
editor's  own  manuscripts,  correspondence,  and  collec- 
tion of  valuable  books,  some  manuscripts  belonging  to 
friends,  of  great  value  to  them,  are  gone. 

"  Our  loss,  so  far  as  money  can  replace  it,  is  about 
eighteen  thousand  dollars,  of  which  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars was  covered  by  insurance.  The  loss  of  property 
which  insurance  would  not  cover  we  feel  more 
keenly. 

"  If  our  mail-books  come  out  whole  from  our 
salamander  safe,  now  buried  among  the  burning 
ruins,  we  shall  be  gratefully  content. 

"  It  is  usual  on  such  occasions  to  ask,  '  Why  were 
you  not  fully  insured  ? '  It  is  impossible,  from  the 
nature  of  our  business,  that  we  should  be  so  ;  and  no 


"THE  TRIBUNE"  CONTINUED.  145 

man  could  have  imagined  that  such  an  establishment, 
in  which  men  were  constantly  at  work  night  and  day, 
could  be  wholly  consumed  by  fire.  There  has  not 
been  another  night  since  the  building  was  put  up 
when  it  could  have  been  burned  down,  even  if  delib- 
erately fired  for  that  purpose.  But  when  this  fire 
broke  out,  under  a  strong  gale  and  snow-storm  of 
twenty-four  hours'  continuance,  which  had  rendered 
the  streets  impassable,  it  was  well-nigh  impossible  to 
drag  an  engine  at  all.  Some  of  them  could  not  be 
got  out  of  their  houses  ;  others  were  dragged  a  few 
rods,  and  then  given  up  of  necessity ;  and  those  which 
reached  the  fire  found  the  nearest  hydrant  frozen  up, 
and  only  to  be  opened  with  an  axe.  Meantime  the 
whole  building  was  in  a  blaze. 

"  We  have  been  called,  editorially,  to  scissor  out  a 
great  many  fires,  both  small  and  great,  and  have  done 
so  with  cool  philosophy,  not  reflecting  how  much,  to 
some  one  man,  the  little  paragraph  would  most 
assuredly  mean.  The  late  complete  and  summary 
burning-up  of  our  office,  licked  up  clean  as  it  was  by 
the  red  flames  in  a  few  hours,  has  taught  us  a  lesson 
on  this  head.  Aside  from  all  pecuniary  loss,  how 
great  is  the  suffering  produced  by  a  fire  !  A  hundred 
little  articles  of  no  use  to  any  one  save  the  owner  ; 
things  that  people  would  look  at  day  after  day,  and 
see  nothing  in  ;  that  we  ourselves  have  contemplated 

13 


146  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GREELEY. 

with  cool  indifference,  —  now  that  they  are  irrevocably 
destroyed,  come  up  in  the  shape  of  reminiscences,  and 
seem  as  if  they  had  been  worth  their  weight  in 
gold. 

"  We  would  not  indulge  in  unnecessary  sentiment ; 
but  even  the  old  desk  at  which  we  sat,  the  ponderous 
inkstand,  the  familiar  faces  of  files  of  correspondence, 
the  choice  collection  of  pamphlets,  •  the  unfinished 
essay,  the  charts  by  which  we  steered,  —  can  they  all 
have  vanished,  nevermore  to  be  seen  ?  Truly  your 
fire  makes  clean  work,  and  is,  of  all  executive  officers, 
supereminent.  Perhaps  that  last  choice  batch  of 
letters  may  be  somewhere  on  file :  we  are  almost 
tempted  to  cry, '  Devil !  find  it  up  ! '  Poh  !  it  is  a 
mere  cinder  now  :  some 

'  Fathoms  deep  my  letter  lies ; 
Of  its  lines  is  tinder  made.' 

"  No  Arabian  tale  can  cradle  a  wilder  fiction,  or  show 
how  altogether  illusory  life  is.  Those  solid  walls  of 
brick,  those  five  decent  stories,  those  steep  and  diffi- 
cult stairs,  the  swinging  doors,  the  sanctum,  —  scene  of 
many  a  deep  political  drama,  of  many  a  pathetic  tale, 
—  utterly  whiffed  out  as  one  summarily  snuffs  out  a 
spermaceti  on  retiring  for  the  night;  and  all  per- 
fectly true. 

"  One  always  has  some  private  satisfaction  in  his 


"THE  TRIBUNE"  CONTINUED.  147 

own  particular  misery.  Consider  what  a  night  it  was 
that  burnt  us  out;  that  we  were  conquered  by  the 
elements  ;  went  up  in  flames  heroically  on  the  wildest, 
windiest,  stormiest  night  these  dozen  years,  not  by 
any  fault  of  human  enterprise,  but  fairly  conquered 
by  stress  of  weather :  there  was  a  great  flourish  of 
trumpets,  at  all  events. 

"  And  consider,  above  all,  that  salamander  safe  ; 
how,  after  all,  the  fire,  assisted  by  the  elements,  only 
came  off  second-best,  not  being  able  to  reduce  that 
safe  into  ashes.  That  is  the  streak  of  sunshine 
through  the  dun  wreaths  of  smoke,  the  combat  of 
human  ingenuity  against  the  desperate  encounter  of 
the  seething  heat.  But  those  boots,  and  Webster's 
Dictionary  :  well,  we  were  handsomely  whipped  there, 
we  acknowledge." 


CHAPTER    X. 

MR.   GBEELEY  IN   POLITICS. 

Mr.  Greeley  a  Politician  from  his  Youth.  —  A  Great  Friend  of  the  United- 
States  Bank.  —  A  Friend  of  William  H.  Seward.  —  Opposed  to  Gen. 
Jackson.  —  Greeley  in  the  Harrison  Campaign.  —  Deep  in  Politics. 


a  child,  Horace  Greeley  was  a  politician. 
JL'  He  says,  "  I  was  an  ardent  politician  when  not 
yet  half  old  enough  to  vote." 

Though  young,  he  fought  with  the  North  against 
the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State.  He  was 
opposed  to  the  compromise  by  which  Missouri  came 
into  the  Union. 

The  nation  now  had  a  calm  for  several  years.  But, 
in  1824,  William  H.  Crawford  of  Georgia  was  nomi- 
nated in  a  congress  attended  by  less  than  one-third 
of  the  members  of  Congress.  New  England  opposed 
such  a  caucus,  and  voted  in  solid  phalanx  for  John 
Quincy  Adams.  No  choice  of  president  was  made  by 
the  people,  —  or  rather  by  the  electors,  who  have  ever 
been  the  automatons  of  the  people,  —  and  Mr.  Adams 
was  chosen  by  the  House.  Mr.  Greeley,  —  always  a 

148 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  POLITICS.  149 

tariff-man,  —  with  the  rest  of  the  Northern  Whigs, 
now  went  against  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  had  formerly  been 
a  protectionist,  but  who  had  now  joined  the  Jackson 
party ;  and  at  this  time,  Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  Every 
thing  went  wrong  with  us  [meaning  the  Whigs]  at 
this  time.  Out-manceuvred  on  every  side,  we  were 
clearly  doomed  to  defeat ;  "  and  in  1828  Jackson  was 
elected. 

Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  In  the  succeeding  presidential 
contest,  in  1832,  we  had  scarcely  a  chance.  Anti- 
Masonry  had  divided  us,  and  driven  thousands  of 
Adams  men  over  to  Jackson,  whose  personal  popu- 
larity was  very  great,  especially  with  the  non-reading 
class,  and  who  had  strengthened  himself  at  the  North 
by  his  tariff-messages  and  his  open  rupture  with  Cal- 
houn." 

Mr.  Greeley  shows  his  thorough  acquaintance  with 
every  rope  in  the  politics  of  the  ship  of  state,  from 
those  times  down  to  the  present.  He  says  again,  "  I 
have  always  —  at  least,  since  I  read  Dr.  Franklin's 
Autobiography,  more  than  forty  years  ago  —  been  an 
advocate  of  paper-money ;  but  I  want  it  to  be  money, 
convertible  at  pleasure  into  coin,  —  not  printed  lies, 
even  though  they  fail  to  deceive." 

Mr.  Greeley  was  a  great  friend  of  the  United-States 
Bank,  as  were  his  Whig  brethren  of  that  day  :  hence  he 
was  a  stanch  opponent  of  Gen.  Jackson's  policy.  Of 

18* 


150  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GKEELEY. 

those  stormy  times  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  in  his  "  Recollec- 
tions," "  The  United-States  Bank,  being  required  to  pay 
over  the  millions  it  held  on  deposit  for  the  government, 
receiving  no  more,  began,  of  course,  to  contract  its  loans. 
It  could  do  no  otherwise ;  especially  as  an  attempt, 
evidently  inspired,  had  been  made  by  Jackson  brokers 
to  break  its  branch  at  Savannah  by  quietly  collecting 
a  large  quantity  of  its  notes,  and  presenting  them  at 
once  for  payment,  hoping  that  they  could  not  all  be 
met,  and  that  it  might  thereupon  be  claimed  that  the 
bank  had  failed.  It  was  charged  by  its  adversaries 
that  the  contraction  consequent  upon  the  removal  of 
the  deposits  was  too  rapid  and  too  great ;  in  fact,  that 
its  purpose  was  the  creation  of  commercial  distress 
and  panic.  This  may  have  been :  but  a  very  decided 
contraction  by  that  bank  was  inevitable  ;  and  it  could 
have  pursued  no  course  that  did  not  expose  it  to  accu- 
sation and  reproach.  I  presume  it  struggled  for  its 
life,  as  most  of  us  would  do  if  assailed  with  deadly 
intent.  With  the  removal  of  th§  deposits  its  power  to 
regulate  the  currency  lapsed,  and  its  duty  as  well. 
Those  banks  to  which  the  government  had  transferred 
its  funds  and  its  favors  should  unitedly  have  assumed 
and  exercised  the  functions  of  a  regulator,  or  confessed 
their  inability.  As  the  pressure  for  money  increased, 
the  political  elements  were  lashed  to  fury,  and  our 
city — the  focus  of  American  commerce  —  became  the 


MK.   GBEELEY  IN  POLITICS.  151 

arena  of  a  fierce  electioneering  struggle.  Hitherto  the 
Jackson  ascendency  had,  since  the  death  of  De  Witt 
Clinton,  been  so  decided,  that  our  charter  elections 
had  usually  been  scarcely  contested ;  but  the  stirring 
debates  daily  received  from  Washington,  the  strivings 
of  merchants  and  banks  to  avert  bankruptcy,  the  daily 
tightening  of  the  money-market,  and  the  novel  hopes 
of  success  inspired  in  the  breasts  of  those  who  now 
took  the  name  of  '  Whigs '  to  indicate  their  repug- 
nance to  unauthorized  assumptions  of  executive  power, 
rendered  New  York  for  some  weeks  a  boiling  caldron 
of  political  passions.  Our  three-days'  election  (April, 
1834)  was  the  most  vehement  and  keenly-contested 
struggle  which  I  ever  witnessed.  Our  city  was  then 
divided  into  fifteen  wards,  with  but  one  poll  to  each 
ward ;  and  I  should  estimate  the  average  attendance 
on  each  at  little  less  than  a  thousand.  I  am  certain 
that  I  saw  the  masses  surrounding  the  fourth  and  sixth 
ward  polls  respectively  (then  but  two  or  three  blocks 
apart)  so  mingled,  that  you  could  not  say  where  the 
one  ended  and  the  other  began.  There  were  some 
fights,  of  course,  and  one  general  collision  in  the  sixth 
ward  that  might  have  resulted  in  deplorable  blood- 
shed ;  but  peace  was  soon  restored.  In  the  event,  the 
Jacksonites  elected  their  mayor  (Cornelius  W.  Law- 
rence) over  the  Whig  candidate  (Gulian  C.  Ver- 
planck)  by  three  hundred  and  eighty-four  majority ; 


152  LIFE  OF  HORACE.GREELEt. 

which  was  less  than  their  overplus  of  voters  natural- 
ized on  the  last  day  of  the  poll.  The  total  vote  was 
nearly  thirty-five  thousand ;  which  was  probably  a 
closer  approach  to  the  whole  number  of  legal  voters 
than  was  e'ver  drawn  out  before  or  since.  The  Whigs 
carried  both  branches  of  the  common  council,  giving 
them  the  control  of  most  of  the  city  patronage  ;  so  that 
the  result  was  generally  and  justly  regarded  as  a 
drawn  battle. 

"  My  concern  printed  a  daily  campaign  penny-paper, 
entitled  'The  Constitution,'  through  most  of  that 
year,  and  I  was  a  free  contributor  to  its  columns ; 
though  its  editor  and  publisher  was  Mr.  Achilles  R. 
Grain,  who  died  some  thirty  years  ago.  It  did  not 
pay  ;  and  the  firm  of  Greeley  and  Winchester  were 
losers  by  it,  counting  my  editorial  assistance  worth 
nothing.  William  H.  Seward,  then  thirty-four  years 
old,  and  just  closing  with  distinction  a  four-years' 
term  in  the  State  Senate,  was  our  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor, with  Silas  M.  Stillwell  for  lieutenant ;  and  we 
fondly  hoped  to  carry  the  State  in  the  November 
election.  But  meantime  the  State  banks,  wherein  the 
federal  revenue  was  deposited  ('  pet  banks '  we  Whigs 
termed  them),  had  been  enabled  to  effect  an  enor- 
mous expansion  of  their  loans  and  issues ;  and  the 
country,  not  yet  fueling  the  tariff  reductions  which 
the  compromise  of  1833  had  barely  inaugurated,  was 


MB.   GREELEY  IN  POLITICS.  153 

launched  on  the  flood  of  a  factitious  but  seductive 
semblance  of  prosperity.  Money  was  abundant. 
Every  one  had  employment  who  wanted,  and  pay  if 
he  earned  it;  property  was  rapidly  increasing  in 
value ;  factories  and  furnaces  had  full  work,  and  were 
doing  well :  so,  when  the  fall  election  came,  we  made 
a  gallant  fight,  but  were  badly  defeated  ;  Marcy  being 
re-elected  governor  over  Seward  by  some  thirteen 
thousand  majority,  —  more  than  he  had  over  Granger 
in  1832  ;  and  the  Whigs,  beaten  pretty  generally  and 
decisively,  relapsed  into  a  torpor,  whence  they  were 
scarcely  aroused  by  the  ensuing  presidential  election, 
wherein  Gen.  Harrison  was  made  their  candidate  for 
president,  with  Francis  Granger  for  vice-president ; 
while  Hugh  L.  White  of  Tennessee  ran  for  president, 
with  John  Tyler  of  Virginia  for  vice-president,  on 
an  independent  ticket,  which  contested  the  South 
with  the  Jackson  Regulars,  who  alone  held  a  national 
convention,  in  which  they  nominated  Martin  Yan 
Buren  for  president,  with  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson 
of  Kentucky  for  vice.  I  was  among  the  very  few  in 
the  Eastern  States  who  had  taken  any  interest  in 
bringing  forward  Gen.  Harrison  as  a  candidate, 
believing  that  there  was  the  raw  material  for  a  good 
run  in  his  history  and  character  ;  but  this  was  not 
generally  credited,  at  least  in  our  State,  which,  in  a 
languid  contest  on  a  light  vote,  went  for  Van  Buren, 


154  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

Johnson,  and  Marcy,  by  some  twenty-eight  thousand 
majority.  When,  however,  the  returns  from  other 
States  came  pouring  in,  and  it  was  found  that  Gen. 
Harrison  had  carried,  with  Vermont  only  of  the  New- 
England  States,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky,  and  had  barely  failed 
to  carry  Pennsylvania,  while  White  had  carried 
Tennessee  and  Georgia,  barely  failing  in  North 
Carolina  and  in  two  or  three  South-western  States, 
and  that  Virginia  had  refused  her  vote  to  Johnson,  so 
that  he  had  failed  of  an  election  by  the  people,  and 
had  to  be  chosen  over  Granger  by  the  Senate,  there 
was  a  general  waking-up  to  the  conviction,  that  either 
Harrison  was  more  popular,  or  Van  Buren  more 
obnoxious,  than  had  been  supposed  in  our  State,  and 
that  the  latter  might  have  been  beaten  by  seasonable 
concert  and  effort.  In  that  slouching  Whig  defeat  of 
1836  lay  the  germ  of  the  overwhelming  Whig  tri- 
umph of  1840." 

Mr.  Greeley  could  never  account  for  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  election,  except  upon  the  principle  of  "  love 
me,  love  my  dog;"  and  always  insisted  that  love  for 
Andrew  Jackson  attained  the  presidency  for  Van 
Buren.  Soon  the  trouble  from  removing  the  deposits 
by  Jackson  ripened  to  real  distress  under  Van 
Buren's  administration ;  and  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  in  his 
"  Recollections  "  as  follows:  "  The  commercial  revul- 


MB.   GREELEY  IN  POLITICS.  155 

sion,  which  was  rather  apprehended  than  fully  experi- 
enced in  1834,  was  abundantly  realized  in  1837. 
Manufactories  were  stopped,  and  their  hands  thrown 
out  of  work.  Trade  was  almost  stagnant.  Bank- 
ruptcies among  men  of  business  were  rather  the  rule 
than  the  exception.  Property  was  sacrificed  at  auc- 
tion, often  at  sheriff's  or  assignee's  sale,  for  a  fraction 
of  its  value  ;  and  thousands  who  had  fondly  dreamed 
themselves  millionnaires,  or  on  the  point  of  becoming 
such,  awoke  to  the  fact  that  they  were  bankrupt. 
The  banks  were,  of  course,  in  trouble  ;  those  which 
had  been  government  depositories,  or  pets,  rather 
deeper  than  the  rest.  Looking  at  the  matter  from 
their  point  of  view,  they  had  been  first  seduced  into  a 
questionable  path,  and  were  now  reviled  and  assailed 
for  yielding  to  their  seducers.  Soon  were  heard  the 
rumblings  of  a  political  earthquake.  Scarcely  a  State 
elected  members  of  Congress  or  a  governor  in  1837, 
after  the  suspension  of  specie  payment ;  but  the  legis- 
lative and  local  elections  of  autumn  sufficiently 
indicated  the  popular  revulsion.  When  New  York 
came  to  vote  in  November,  the  gale  had  stiffened  into 
a  tornado.  The  Whigs  carried  New- York  City,  which 
they  had  never  done  before,  with  Westchester, 
Orange,  Duchess,  Greene,  Oneida,  Onondaga,  and 
other  counties  hitherto  overwhelmingly  Democratic, 
giving  them  six  of  the  eight  Senate  districts,  includ- 


156  LIFE  OF   HORACE   GBEELEY. 

ing  the  first  and  second.  Herkimer,  Jefferson,  St 
Lawrence,  Suffolk,  and  a  few  smaller  counties,  were 
all  that  clung  to  the  waning  fortunes  of  Van  Buren, 
the  Whigs  choosing  a  hundred  out  of  the  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  members  of  Assembly.  The  Senate 
being  chosen,  but  one-fourth  annually  remained 
strongly  Democratic." 

Mr.  Greeley  kept  posted  with  the  views  of  every 
president,  whether  Democratic  or  Whig.  Of  Mr. 
Polk  he  said,  — 

"  He  was  a  man  of  moderate  abilities,  faultless 
private  character,  and  undeviating  Jacksonism.  He 
had  briefly  but  positively  avowed  himself  an  advo- 
cate of  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas.  Mr. 
Polk  had  been  for  years  in  Congress,  and  had  always 
voted  there  against  protection,  as  all  Southern  Demo- 
crats had  voted  since  1828.  He  was  as  much  a  free- 
trader as  Mr.  Calhoun  had  been  ever  since  1824 ;  and 
yet  he  was  induced  by  the  exigencies  of  the  canvass 
in  Pennsylvania  to  write  or  sign  the  following 

letter :  — 

COLUMBIA,  TENN.,  June  19,  1844. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  received  recently  several  let- 
ters in  reference  to  my  opinions  on  the  subject  of  the 
tariff,  and,  among  others,  yours  of  the  10th  ult. 
My  opinions  on  this  subject  have  been  often  given  to 
the  public.  They  are  to  be  found  in  my  public  acts, 


MB.    GBEELEY  IN  POLITICS.  157 

and  in  the  public  discussions  in  which  I  have  partici- 
pated. I  am  in  favor  of  a  tariff  for  revenue,  —  such 
a  one  as  will  yield  a  sufficient  amount  to  the  treasury 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  government  economically 
administered.  In  adjusting  the  details  of  a  revenue 
tariff,  I  have  heretofore  sanctioned  such  moderate 
discriminating  duties  as  would  produce  the  amount 
of  revenue  needed,  and  at  the  same  time  afford  inci- 
dental protection  to  our  home-industry.  I  am  op- 
posed to  a  tariff  for  protection  merely,  and  not  for 
revenue.  Acting  upon  these  general  principles,  it  is 
well  known  that  I  gave  my  support  to  the  policy  of 
Gen.  Jackson's  administration  on  this  subject.  I 
voted  against  the  tariff  act  of  1828.  I  voted  for  the 
act  of  1832,  which  contained  modifications  of  some  of 
the  objectionable  provisions  of  the  act  of  1828.  As  a 
member  of  the  committee  of  ways  and  means  of  the 
Representatives,  I  gave  my  assent  to  the  bill  reported 
by  that  committee  in  December,  1832,  making  further 
modifications  of  the  act  of  1828,  and  making  also 
discriminations  in  the  imposition  of  the  duties  which 
it  proposed.  That  bill  did  not  pass,  but  was  super- 
seded by  the  bill  commonly  called  "  The  Compromise 
Bill,"  for  which  I  voted.  In  my  judgment,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  government  to  extend,  as  far  as  it  may 
be  practicable  to  do  so,  by  its  revenue-laws  and  all 
other  means  within  its  power,  fair  and  just  protection 

14 


158  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

to  all  the  great  interests  of  the  whole  Union,  em- 
bracing agriculture,  manufactures,  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  commerce,  and  navigation.  I  heartily  approve 
the  resolutions  upon  this  subject  passed  by  the  Demo- 
cratic national  convention  lately  assembled  at  Balti- 
more. 

I  am  with  great  respect,  dear  sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  K.  POLK. 

JOHX  K.  KANE,  Esq.,  Philadelphia." 

Mr.  Greeley  adds,  "  It  was  impossible  not  to  see 
that  this  was  an  elaborate  attempt  to  darken  counsel 
so  as  to  break  the  force  of  the  tariff  issue,  which  was 
telling  strongly  against  him  wherever  protection  was 
the  favorite  policy." 

Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  I  have  admired  and  trusted 
many  statesmen  ;  I  profoundly  loved  Henry  Clay : 
hence,  from  the  hour  of  his  nomination  (in  May,  1844) 
to  his  defeat  in  November,  I  gave  every  hour,  every 
effort,  every  thought,  to  his  election. 

"  Mr.  Clay,  born  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  had  not 
even  a  common-school  education,  and  had  only  a  few 
months'  clerkship  in  a  store,  with  a  somewhat  longer 
training  in  a  lawyer's  office,  as  preparation  for  his 
great  career.  Tall  in  person,  though  plain  in  fea- 
tures, graceful  in  manner,  and  at  once  dignified  and 


MK.   GBEELEY  IN  POLITICS.  159 

affable  in  bearing,  I  think  his  fervid  patriotism  and 
thrilling  eloquence  combined  with  decided  natural 
abilities  and  a  wide  and  varied  experience  to  render 
him  the  American  more  fitted  to  win  and  enjoy  popu- 
larity than  any  other  who  has  lived.  That  popularity 
he  steadily  achieved  and  extended  through  the  earlier 
half  of  his  long  public  life :  but  he  was  confronted 
by  a  political  combination  well-nigh  invincible,  based 
on  the  potent  personal  strength  of  Gen.  Jackson ;  and 
this  overcame  him.  Five  times  presented  as  a  candi- 
date for  president,  he  was  always  beaten,  —  twice  in 
conventions  of  his  political  associates,  thrice  in  the 
choice  of  electors  by  the  people.  The  careless  reader 
of  our  history  in  future  centuries  will  scarcely  real- 
ize the  force  of  his  personal  magnetism,  nor  conceive 
how  millions  of  hearts  glowed  with  sanguine  hopes 
of  his  election  to  the  presidency,  and  bitterly  lamented 
his  and  their  discomfiture." 

In  1848  we  find  Mr.  Greeley  still  in  politics.  Polk 
and  Dallas  had  served  their  period  ;  the  Mexican  war 
was  over ;  and  Zachary  Taylor,  technically  called 
"  Old  Zach,"  was  nominated  for  president.  Of  this 
nomination  Daniel  Webster  said,  "  It  was  not  fit  to  be 
made ; "  and  Horace  Greeley  said  or  acted  out  this 
same  idea.  He  says  in  his  "  Recollections,"  "  The 
presidential  canvass  of  1848  opened  directly  after  it 
(the  Mexican  war). 


160  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor  —  a  native  of  Virginia, 
but  long  resident  in  Louisiana  —  had  evinced  quali- 
ties in  the  war  which  strongly  commended  him  to 
many  as  a  candidate  for  our  highest  civil  office. 
Though  his  part  in  it  was  less  brilliant,  less  important, 
than  that  of  Gen.  Scott,  he  had  commended  himself 
far  more  widely  to  popular  favor.  Quiet,  resolute, 
sententious,  unostentatious,  he  was  admired  by  multi- 
tudes who  profoundly  detested  the  war  wherein  he 
had  so  suddenly  achieved  renown  ;  and  many  of  them 
gloated  over  the  prospect  of  hurling  from  power  the 
politicians  who  had  so  wantonly  plunged  us  into  a 
contest  of  aggression  and  invasion  by  means  of  the  very 
instrument  which  they  had  employed  to  consummate 
their  purposes.  I  non-concurred  in  this  view  most 
decidedly.  Gen.  Taylor,  though  an  excellent  soldier, 
had  no  experience  as  a  statesman ;  and  his  capacity  for 
civil  administration  was  wholly  undemonstrated.  He 
had  never  voted  ;  had,  apparently,  paid  little  attention 
to  and  taken  little  interest  in  politics ;  and,  though 
inclined  toward  the  Whig  party,  was  but  slightly  iden- 
tified with  its  ideas  and  its  efforts.  Nobody  could  say 
what  were  his  views  regarding  protection,  internal  im- 
provement, or  the  currency.  On  the  great  question  — 
which  our  vast  acquisitions  from  Mexico  had  suddenly 
invested  with  the  gravest  importance  —  of  excluding 
slavery  from  the  yet  untainted  federal  Territories,  he 


MB.    GKEELEY   IN  POLITICS.  161 

had  nowise  declared  himself ;  and  the  fact  that  he  was 
an  extensive  slaveholder  justified  a  presumption  that 
he,  like  most  slaveholders,  deemed  it  right  that  any 
settler  in  the  Territories  should  be  at  liberty  to  take 
thither,  and  hold  there  as  property,  whatever  the  laws 
of  his  own  State  recognized  as  property.  We  desired 
to  4  take  a  bond  of  fate '  that  this  view  should  not  be 
held  by  a  Whig  president,  at  all  events. 

"  And  then  I  (with  many  others)  wanted  to  try  over 
again  the  issue  on  which  I  thought  we  had  been  do- 
frauded  in  1844.  It  seemed  impossible  that  Pennsyl- 
vania (in  view  of  her  recent  experience)  should  again 
be  persuaded  that  any  Democrat  was  as  good  a  protec- 
tionist as  Henry  Clay.  True,  we  had  not  defeated 
Gov.  Shunk's  re-election  in  1847  ;  but  the  running 
of  distinct  Whig  and  Native  candidates  for  •governor 
rendered  our  defeat  inevitable. 

"  New  York  we  had  carried  in  1847  by  a  very  large 
majority ;  the  Free-soil  section  of  the  Democratic 
party  withholding  its  votes  from  the  proslavery  or 
'  hunker  '  State  ticket.  The  Whigs  of  our  State  were 
mainly  for  Clay.  We  could  give  him  her  electoral 
vote ;  and  this,  with  Pennsylvania,  made  his  election 
morally  certain.  Hence  I  worked  hard  to  secure  his 
nomination. 

"  The  attempt  to  run  a  parallel  between  this  case 
and  that  of  1840  failed  in  the  most  material  point. 

14* 


162  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

Gen.  Harrison  may  not  have  been  so  able  as  Mr.  Clay; 
but  he  was  not  less  earnestly  and  unequivocally  a 
Whig.  No  one  could  indicate  a  shade  of  difference  in 
their  political  views.  Gen.  Harrison's  military  career 
was  brief  and  casual :  his  life  had  been  that  of  a 
civilian,  honored  and  trusted  by  all  administrations 
between  1800  and  1828,  —  a  Territorial  governor, 
United-States  senator,  and  ambassador  to  Colombia. 
Gen.  Taylor,  now  an  old  man,  had  been  in  the  regular 
army  from  boyhood,  and  was  in  all  things  a  veteran 
soldier.  His  slender  acquaintance  with  and  interest 
in  politics  was  nowise  feigned,  but  was  usual  and 
natural  with  men  of  his  class  and  position. 

"  The  Whig  national  convention  met  at  Philadel- 
phia on  the  1st  of  June.  There  was  a  pretty  full, 
but  not  extraordinary  attendance.  I  believe  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Morehead  of  North  Carolina  presided.  It  was 
very  soon  apparent  that  the  shrewd,  influential,  man- 
aging politicians  were  generally  for  Taylor,  who  had  a 
plurality,  but  not  a  majority,  on  the  first  ballot,  and 
gained  steadily  on  the  two  following  ;  viz. :  — 

1st.  2d.  3d. 

Taylor         ...         Ill  118  133 

Clay     ....          97  86  74 

Scott   ....           43  49  54 

Webster       ...           22  22  17 

Scattering    ...            6  —  — 


MB.   GKEELEY  IN  POLITICS.  163 

"An  adjournment  was  now  had  till  next  morning: 
but  the  issue  was  already  decided,  and  Gen.  Taylor 
was  nominated  on  the  next  ballot ;  when  the  vote 
stood,  — Taylor,  171;  Clay,  35;  Scott,  60;  Webster, 
14.  All  that  we  Clayites  achieved  was  the  substitu- 
tion of  Millard  Fillmore  as  vice-president  for  Abbott 
Lawrence  of  Boston,  who  was  on  the  Taylor  slate ; 
but  evidences  of  dissatisfaction  induced  the  managers 
to  take  him  off,  and  let  Mr.  Fillmore  be  nominated." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

MB.   GBEELEY   IN   CONGRESS. 

Elected  to  Congress.  —  Attacks  the  Mileage  Fraud.  —  Mr.  Greeley  accused 
of  Inconsistency.  —  His  Explanation.  —  His  Reports  to  "  The  Tribune  " 
attacked.  —  He  introduces  the  Mileage  Bill.  —  Sticks  to  his  Opinion  of 
Gen.  Taylor's  Nomination.  —  Address  to  his  Constituents.  —  Our  Object 
not  to  extol  him,  but  to  tell  what  he  has  done.  —  Quotation  from  Mr. 
Greeley's  Whig  Almanac.  —  His  Effort  to  save  Money.  —  Mr.  Turner's 
Resolutions. —  Mr.  Greeley's  Reply.  —  Mr.  Greeley  not  a.  Dead-Head. — 
Facetious  Discussion  on  the  Mileage  Question.  —  Second  Address  to  his 
Constituents. 

MR.  GREELEY  was  elected  to  fill  out  the  term 
of  three  months  of  a  deceased  member.  He 
did  not  seek  the  office',  and  spoke  of  his  nomination 
and  election  as  follows,  some  years  after :  "  In  our 
State  election  for  1846,  David  S.  Jackson  (Democrat) 
had  been  chosen  to  represent  the  upper  district  of 
our  city  in  the  thirtieth  Congress  by  a  small  majority 
over  Col.  James  Monroe  (Whig).  That  majority  was 
obtained  by  bringing  over  from  Blackwell's  Island, 
and  polling  in  the  nineteenth  ward,  the  adult  male 
paupers  domiciled  in  the  almshouse,  —  not  merely 

164 


MB.   GREELEY   IN  CONGRESS.  165 

those  who  had  resided  in  our  district  before  they 
honored  our  city  by  condescending  to  live  at  her 
expense,  but  those  who  had  been  gathered  in  from 
other  districts.  Col.  Monroe  objected  to  this  as  car- 
rying a  joke  too  far ;  and,  on  his  contesting  the  return 
of  Mr.  Jackson,  the  House  sustained  the  objection, 
and  unseated  Jackson  without  replacing  him  by 
Monroe.  The  people  were  required  to  vote  again. 

"  By  this  time  it  was  1848,  —  the  year  of  Gen.  Tay- 
lor's election.  Col.  Monroe  confidently  expected  to  be 
the  Whig  candidate,  not  merely  for  the  vacancy,  but 
for  the  ensuing  thirty-first  Congress.  The  delegates, 
however,  were  fixed  for  Mr.  James  Brooks,  editor  of 
4  The  Express,'  who  was  duly  nominated  for  the 
thirty-first ;  while  Col.  Monroe  was  tendered  the 
nomination  for  the  remaining  ninety  days  (at  eight 
dollars  per  day)  of  the  thirtieth  Congress.  He  de- 
clined indignantly :  whereupon  that  fag-end  of  a 
term  was  tendered  to  me.  I  at  first  resolved  to 
decline  also,  not  seeing  how  to  leave  my  business 
so  abruptly  for  a  three-months'  sojourn  at  Washing- 
ton ;  but  the  nomination  was  so  kindly  pressed  upon 
me,  with  such  apparently  cogent  reasons  therefor, 
that  I  accepted  it.  There  was  never  any  doubt  of  the 
result.  A  politician  soon  called  on  me,  professing  to 
be  from  Mr.  Brooks,  to  inquire  as  to  what  should  be 
done  to  secure  our  election.  '  Tell  Mr.  Brooks,'  I 


166  LIFE   OF   HOKACE  GREELEY. 

responded,  *  that  we  have  only  to  keep  so  still  that  no 
particular  attention  will  be  called  to  us,  and  Gen. 
Taylor  will  carry  us  both  in.  There  are  not  voters 
enough  in  the  district  who  care  about  either  of  us, 
one  way  or  the  other,  to  swamp  the  majority  that  the 
Taylor  electors  cannot  fail  to  receive.' 

"  The  district  from  which  I  was  chosen  included  all 
our  city  above  Fourteenth  Street,  with  the  eleventh, 
fifteenth,  and  seventeenth  wards  lying  below  that 
street.  It  then  contained  about  one-third  of  the  city's 
entire  population  :  it  now  contains  at  least  two-thirds. 
When,  soon  after  taking  my  seat,  I  introduced  a 
bill  authorizing  each  landless  citizen  of  the  United 
States  to  occupy  and  appropriate  a  small  allotment 
of  the  national  domain,  free  of  charge,  a  Western 
member  wanted  to  know  why  New  York  should  busy 
herself  as  to  the  disposal  of  the  public  lands.  I  re- 
sponded, that  my  interest  in  the  matter  was  stimulated 
by  the  fact  that  I  represented  more  landless  men  than 
any  other  member  on  that  floor. 

"  The  pay  of  members  of  Congress  for  services 
was,  then  as  now,  all  the  same  for  each  member ;  but 
the  mileage  was  different,  as  some  came  five,  and  some 
a  thousand  miles."  The  first  thing  Mr.  Greeley  did 
when  he  entered  Congress  was  to  attack  the  mileage 
question.  He  gives  his  own  account  of  this  matter  in 
his  "  Recollections"  thus:  — 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  167 

"  The  introduction  and  rapid  multiplication  of 
steamboats,  especially  on  our  great  trans-Alleghany 
network  of  rivers  and  lakes,  rendered  this  mileage 
absurdly  too  high.  A  member  now  traversed  a  dis- 
tance of  two  thousand  miles  about  as  quickly  as,  and 
at  hardly  more  expense  than,  his  predecessor  by  half 
a  century  must  have  incurred  on  a  journey  of  two 
hundred  miles,  for  which  the  latter  was  paid  eighty, 
and  the  former  eight  hundred  dollars. 

"  Nor  was  this  all.  The  steamboat  routes,  though 
much  more  swiftly  and  cheaply  traversed,  were  nearly 
twice — sometimes  thrice  —  the  length  of  the  stage 
and  horseback  roads  they  superseded  ;  and  as  the 
law  said  at  first,  and  continued  to  say,  that  they 
were  to  charge  mileage  '  by  the  usually-travelled 
route,'  they  now  charged  and  received  twice  as  much 
for  travelling  five  days  in  a  sumptuous  cabin,  replete 
with  every  luxury,  as  their  fathers  paid  for  roughing 
it  over  the  mountains  in  fifteen  to  twenty  days  at  a 
far  greater  cost.  Col.  Benton,  —  who  deemed  himself 
and  meant  to  be  an  honest  man,  —  somewhere  about 
1836,  made  a  claim  on  the  treasury  for  about  two 
thousand  dollars  which  (he  computed)  was  required 
to  bring  up  his  mileage  in  past  years  to  a  par  with  the 
charges  of  others  ;  and  this  amount  was  allowed  and 
paid  him. 

"  Said  First  Comptroller  Elisha  Whittlesey  to  me, 


168  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

near  the  close  of  his  long,  upright,  and  useful  public 
life,  *  Even  Mr.  Calhoun  has  increased  his  charge  for 
mileage  since  the  old  horseback  and  stage-coach  days ; 
and  there  is  just  one  man  in  Congress  who  charges 
mileage  now  as  all  did  then  :  that  man  is  Henry  Clay. 

"  Getting  into  the  House,  I  had  access  to  the 
schedules  of  compensation  and  mileage  which  (though 
they  are  said  to  be  printed)  were  not  (and  are  not) 
easily  found  by  outsiders ;  and  I  resolved  to  improve 
my  opportunity.  So  I  hired  a  reporter  to  transcribe 
them ;  and  (using  as  a  basis  of  comparison  the 
United-States  topographer's  official  statement  of  the 
distances  from  Washington,  by  the  most  direct  mail- 
route,  of  each  post-office  in  the  country)  I  aimed  to 
show  exactly  how  much  could  be  saved,  in  the  case  of 
each  member,  by  computing  mileage  on  the  most 
direct  post-route,  instead  of  '  the  usually-travelled 
route.'  Tins  exposS,  when  prepared,  was  transmitted 
to  New  York,  duly  appeared  in  '  The  Tribune,'  and  so 
came  back  to  Washington. 

"  I  had  expected  that  it  would  kick  up  some  dust ; 
but  my  expectations  were  far  outrun.  It  happened 
that  two  of  our  Whig  members  from  Ohio  had  been 
run  out  by  close  votes  at  the  recent  election  (October, 
1848),  and  that  the  crooked  mileage  they  charged  had 
been  used  with  effect  by  their  opponents  in  the  can- 
vass. It  might  be  all  right  for  them  to  charge  mile- 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  169 

age  from  the  heart  of  Ohio  around  by  Lake  Erie  to 
Washington,  when  the  government  had  constructed 
a  first-rate  national  road  from  the  vicinity  of  Balti- 
more due  west  through  Zanesville  and  Columbus  to 
Indianapolis ;  but  the  people  didn't  or  wouldn't  see 
it.  These  beaten  sore-heads  were  specially  prompt 
and  eager  in  preaching  a  crusade  against  me  on  the 
floor." 

Mr.  Greeley  says,  "  Rarely  has  our  country  been 
served  by  a  more  upright  man  than  Hon.  Jacob 
Collamore  of  Vermont.  So  enormous  was  this  evil, 
that  this  good  man  had  become  involved  in  it ;  and 
he  made  complaint  to  me  as  follows  :  — 

"  '  Is  it  not  hard  that  I  should  be  held  up  to  the  pub- 
lic as  a  swindler  ?  Look  at  the  facts.  I  live  in  Wood- 
stock. I  take  the  stage  to  Windsor,  twenty-two  miles, 
where  I  strike  the  nearest  railroad.  I  ride  thence  by 
rail  to  Boston,  from  Boston  to  New  York,  from  New 
York  to  Washington.  It  is  the  easiest  and  quickest 
route  I  can  take,  —  the  natural  route  of  travel.  I 
charge  for  the  miles  I  actually  travel,  —  not  one  more. 
Why  is  not  this  right  ?  ' 

"  '  Judge,'  I  responded,  '  now  hear  me.  Your  pred- 
ecessors, I  happen  to  know,  took  stage  from  Wood- 
stock to  Rutland,  from  Rutland  to  Troy,  thence  by 
steamboat  to  New  York,  thence  by  railroad  to  Washing- 
ton. It  is  now  cheaper  and  easier  for  you  to  go  by 

15 


170  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GREELEY. 

Boston,  —  three  hundred  miles  farther.  Will  you  tell 
me  why  you  should  be  paid  two  hundred  and  forty 
dollars  more  per  annum  because  this  cheaper  and 
easier  route  has  lately  been  opened  ?  I  concede  you 
the  advantage  of  the  improved  transit.  I  protest 
against  your  charging  two  hundred  and  forty  dollars, 
and  the  people  paying  it  therefor.  That  is  not  just.' 

"  The  only  answer  I  ever  received  to  this  way  of 
putting  the  case  was,  '  Such  is  the  law.'  But  Congress 
was  master  of  the  law  ;  able  at  any  time  to  make  it 
just;  therefore  bound  to  make  it  just.  It  was  the 
object  of  my  expogg  to  compel  such  adjustment. 

"  Gen.  J.  J.  McKay  of  North  Carolina  once  came 
across  to  my  seat.  He  was  a  stern  proslavery  Dem- 
ocrat ;  and  it  was  not  the  habit  of  such  to  waste 
civilities  on  me. 

"'  Mr.  Greeley,'  he  said,  'you  have  printed  me  as 
charging  seven  miles  more  than  the  actual  distance 
from  my  home  to  Washington.  The  fact  is  not  so.  I 
charge  precisely  as  you  say  is  just,  —  by  the  shortest 
mail-route ;  but  I  live  seven  miles  beyond  my  post- 
office,  and  I  charge  from  my  own  house.' 

"  '  How  could  I  know  that  ? '  I  inquired. 

"  '  You  could  not,'  he  replied.  '  I  am  not  blaming 
you  :  on  the  contrary,  I  thank  you  for  what  you  have 
done.  It  was  needed,  and  will  do  good.  I  only 
wished  that  you  should  know  the  facts.' ' 


ME.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  171 

Mr.  Greeley  did  not  first  introduce  the  mileage 
question  to  the  House.  This  was  done  by  Hon.  Wil- 
liam Sawyer  of  Ohio.  He  had  been  annoyed  by  an 
article  published  in  "  The  Tribune  "  on  his  habit  of 
eating  a  luncheon  in  the  House  behind  the  speaker's 
chair.  He  was  further  grieved  by  the  introduction 
)f  Mr.  Greeley's  bill,  though  that  stated  correctly  the 
lifference  between  his  mileage  as  charged  and  what 

would  be  if  computed  by  the  most  direct  routes. 

lere  was  a  blunder  in  the  case  of  his  nearest  Whig 
neighbor,  Hon.  Robert  C.  Schenck,  whose  overcharge 
was  not  made  as  much  as  it  should  be.  Schenck 
irose,  and  offered  to  swap  with  his  colleague  if  that 
would  afford  him  any  satisfaction.  It  afforded  none. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  Mr.  Greeley  did  hot 
favor  Gen.  Taylor's  nomination ;  and  had  he  not 
jhanced  to  attend  a  Whig  meeting  in  Yauxhall  Gar- 
len,  where  he  was  loudly  called  for,  and  where  he 
made  the  following  speech,  he  probably  would  not 
have  been  nominated  for  Congress,  which  would  have 
saved  him  some  rencounters  with  others  on  that 
floor :  — 

"  I  trust,  fellow-citizens,  I  shall  never  be  afraid  nor 
ashamed  to  meet  a  Whig  assemblage,  and  express  my 
sentiments  on  the  political  questions  of  the  day;  and, 
although  I  have  had  no  intimation  till  now  that  my 
presence  here  was  expected  or  desired,  I  am  the  more 


172         LIFE  OP  HOE  ACE  GBEELEY. 

ready  to  answer  your  call,  since  I  have  heard  intima- 
tions, even  from  this  stand,  that  there  was  some 
mystery  in  my  course  to  be  cleared  up, — some 
astounding  revelation  with  regard  to  it  to  be  expected. 
And  our  eloquent  friend  from  Kentucky  even  volun- 
teered, in  his  remarks,  to  see  me  personally,  and  get 
me  right.  If  there  be  indeed  any  mystery  in  the 
premises,  I  will  do  my  best  to  dispel  it ;  but  I  have, 
in  truth,  nothing  to  reveal.  I  stated  in  announcing 
Gen.  Taylor's  nomination,  the  day  after  it  was  made, 
that  I  would  support  it  if  I  saw  no  other  way  to  defeat 
the  election  of  Lewis  Cass.  That  pledge  I  have  ever 
regarded.  I  shall  faithfully  redeem  it ;  and,  since  there 
is  now  no  chance  remaining  that  any  other  than  Gen. 
Taylor  or  Gen.  Cass  can  be  elected,  I  shall  henceforth 
support  the  ticket  nominated  at  Philadelphia,  and  do 
what  I  can  for  its  election. 

"  But  I  have  not  changed  my  opinion  of  the  nomina- 
tion of  Gen.  Taylor.  Personally  I  have  ever  spoken 
of  him  with  respect.  But  I  believe  it  was  unwise 
and  unjust.  I  believe  a  candidate  could  and  should 
have  been  chosen  more  deserving,  more  capable,  more 
popular.  I  cannot  pretend  to  support  him  with  enthu- 
siasm ;  for  I  do  not  feel  any. 

"  Yet,  while  I  frankly  avow  that  I  would  do  little 
merely  to  make  Gen.  Taylor  president,  I  cannot  forget 
that  others  stand  or  fall  with  him,  and  that  among 


ME.    GKEELEY  IN   CONGRESS.  173 

them  are  Fillmore  and  Fish  and  Patterson,  with 
whom  I  have  battled  for  the  Whig  cause  ever  since  I 
was  entitled  to  vote,  and  to  whom  I  cannot  now  he 
unfaithful. 

"  And  then  the  question  of  free  soil :  what  shall  he 
the  fate  of  that  ?  I  presume  there  are  here  some  free- 
soil  men  "  ["Yes,  yes  !  all  free-soil "]  :  "  I  mean  those 
to  whom  the  question  of  extending  or  restricting  slavery 
outweighs  all  other  considerations.  And  I  appeal  to 
every  free-soil  Whig  to  ask  himself  this  question :  How 
would  South  Carolina  and  Texas  wish  you  to  vote  ? 
Can  you  doubt  your  bitter  adversaries  would  rejoice  to 
hear  that  you  had  resolved  to  break  off  from  the  Whig 
party,  and  permit  Gen.  Cass  to  be  chosen  president, 
with  an  obedient  Congress  ?  I  cannot  doubt  it ;  and 
I  cannot  believe  that  a  wise  or  worthy  course  which 
my  bitterest  adversaries  would  gladly  work  out  for 
me. 

"  Of  Gen.  Taylor's  soundness  on  this  question  I  feel 
no  assurance,  and  can  give  none ;  but  I  believe  him 
clearly  pledged  by  his  letters  to  leave  legislation  to 
Congress,  and  not  attempt  to  control  by  his  veto  the 
policy  of  the  country.  I  believe  a  Whig  Congress 
will  not  consent  to  extend  slavery,  and  that  a  Whig 
president  will  not  go  to  war  with  Congress  and  the 
general  spirit  of  his  party.  So  believing,  I  shall  sup- 
port the  Whig  nominations  with  a  view  to  the  triumph 


174  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

of  free  soil ;  trusting  that  the  day  is  not  distant  when 
an  amendment  of  the  Federal  Constitution  will  give 
the  appointment  of  postmasters  and  other  local  officers 
to  the  people,  and  strip  the  president  of  the  enormous 
and  anti-republican  patronage  which  now  causes  the 
whole  political  action  of  the  country  to  hinge  upon 
its  presidential  elections.  Such  are  my  views ;  such 
will  be  my  course.  I  trust  it  will  no  longer  be  pre- 
tended that  there  is  any  mystery  about  them." 

Mr.  Greeley's  nomination  was  received  with  much 
£clat,  especially  by  thinking,  literary,  and  laboring 
men.  Though  not  as  universally  known  then  as  at 
the  present  time,  yet  he  was  better  known  than  almost 
any  other  candidate  for  Congress. 

After  Mr.  Greeley's  election,  he  issued  the  following 
card  to  the  electors  of  his  district :  — 

"  The  undersigned,  late  a  candidate  for  Congress, 
respectfully  returns  his  thanks,  —  first,  to  his  political 
opponents  for  the  uniform  kindness  and  consideration 
with  which  he  was  treated  by  them  throughout  the 
canvass,  and  the  unsolicited  suffrages  with  which  he 
was  honored  by  many  of  them ;  secondly,  to  the  great 
mass  of  his  political  brethren  for  the  ardent,  enthusi- 
astic, and  effective  support  which  they  rendered  him ; 
and,  lastly,  to  that  small  portion  of  the  Whig  electors 
who  saw  fit  to  withhold  from  him  their  Votes,  thereby 


MB.   GREELEY  EN   CONGRESS. 


175 


nearly  or  quite  neutralizing  the  support  he  received 
from  the  party.  Claiming  for  himself  the  right  to 
vote  for  or  against  any  candidate  of  his  as  his  own 
sense  of  right  and  duty  shall  dictate,  he  very  freely 
accords  to  all  others  the  same  liberty,  without  offence 
or  inquisition. 

"During  the  late  canvass,  I  have  not,  according  to 
my  best  recollection,  spoken  of  myself,  and  have  not 
replied  in  any  way  to  any  sort  of  attack  or  imputation. 
I  have  in  no  manner  sought  to  deprecate  the  objec- 
tions, nor  to  soothe  the  terrors,  of  that  large  and  most 
influential  class  who  deem  my  advocacy  of  land-reform 
and  social  re-organization  synonymous  with  infidelity 
and  systematic  robbery.  To  have  entered  upon  ex- 
planations or  vindications  of  my  views  on  these  sub- 
jects in  the  crisis  of  a  great  national  struggle  which 
taxed  every  energy,  and  demanded  every  thought, 
comported  neither  with  my  leisure  nor  my  inclination. 

"  Neither  have  I  seen  fit  at  any  time  to  justify  nor 
allude  to  my  participation  in  the  efforts  made  here  last 
summer  to  aid  the  people  of  Ireland  in  their  antici- 
pated struggle  for  liberty  and  independence.  I  shall 
not  do  so  now.  What  I  did  then  in  behalf  of  the 
Irish  millions,  I  stand  ready  to  do  again,  so  far  as  my 
means  will  permit,  when  a  similar  opportunity,  with  a 
like  prospect  of  success,  is  presented ;  and  not  for 
them  only,  fcut  for  any  equally  oppressed  and  suffering 


176  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

people  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  If  any  '  extortion  and 
plunder '  were  contrived  and  perpetrated  in  the  meet- 
ings for  Ireland  at  Vauxhall  last  season,  I  am  wholly 
unconscious  of  it ;  though  I  ought  to  be  as  well 
informed  as  to  the  alleged  '  extortion  and  plunder '  as 
most  others,  whether  my  information  were  obtained  in 
the  character  of  conspirator  or  that  of  victim.  I  feel 
impelled,  however,  by  the  expressions  employed  in  Mr. 
Brooks's  card,  to  state  that  I  have  found  nothing  like 
an  inclination  to  '  extortion  and  plunder '  in  the  coun- 
cils of  the  leading  friends  of  Ireland  in  this  city,  and 
nothing  like  a  suspicion  of  such  baseness  among  the 
thousands  who  sustained  and  cheered  them  in  their 
efforts.  All  the  suspicions  and  imputations  to  which 
those  have  been  subjected  who  freely  gave  their 
money  and  their  exertions  in  aid  of  the  generous 
though  ineffectual  efforts  for  Ireland's  liberation  have 
originated  with  those  who  never  gave  that  cause  a 
prayer  or  a  shilling,  and  have  not  yet  travelled  beyond 
them.  "  Respectfully, 

"  HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  NEW  YORK,  Nov.  8,  1848." 

It  is  not  the  object  of  the  writer  to  pronounce  a 
panegyric  upon  Horace  Greeley,  but  to  recount  in 
a  plain  and  simple  manner  who  he  is  and  what  he 
has  done.  He  had  been  prompt  in  entering  the 
House,  as  he  took  the  oath  and  his  seat  oifrthe  first  day 


ME.   GREELEY  IN   CONGRESS.  177 

of  the  session  :  and  lie  was  in  "  for  business  ;  "  for  the 
next  day  he  informed  the  House  that  he  proposed  to 
introduce  a  bill  to  prevent  speculation  in  the  public 
lands,  and  to  secure  "  homesteads  "  to  actual  settlers 
upon  the  same.  Eight  days  after,  he  introduced  the 
following  bill :  — 

"  1.  That  any  citizen,  and  any  alien  who  had  de- 
clared his  intention  of  becoming  a  citizen,  nifty  file  a 
pre-emption  claim  to  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
public  land,  settle  upon  it,  improve  it,  and  have  the 
privilege  of  buying  it  at  any  time  within  seven  years 
of  filing  the  claim,  at  the  government  price  Of  a  dollar 
and  a  quarter  per  acre,  provided  that  he  is  not  the 
owner  or  claimant  of  any  other  real  estate. 

"2.  That  the  land-office  where  the  claim  is  filed 
shall  issue  a  warrant  of  pre-emption,  securing  the 
claimant  in  seven  years'  possession. 

"  3,,  That,  after  five  years'  occupancy,  a  warrant- 
holder  who  makes  oath  of  his  intehtion  to  reside  on 
and  cultivate  his  land  for  life  shall  become  the  owner 
of  any  forty  acres  of  his  claim  which  he  may  select; 
the  head  of  a  family,  eighty  acres. 

"  4.  That  the  price  of  public  lands,  when  not  sold  to 
actual  settlers,  shall  be  five  dollars  per  acre. 

"  5.  That  false  affidavits,  made  to  procure  land  under 
the  provisions  of  this  bill,  shall  be  punished  by  three 
years'  hard  labor  in  State-prison,  by  a  fine  not  exceed- 


178  LIFE  OP   HORACE  GREELEY. 

ing  a  thousand  dollars,  and  by  the  loss  of  the  land 
fraudulently  obtained." 

Dec.  16,  the  following  notice  appeared  in  "  The 
Tribune:  "  "  In  reference  to  many  requests  for  copies 
of  the  president's  message  and  accompanying  docu- 
ments, I  desire  to  state  that  such  message  and  docu- 
ments are  expected  to  cover  twelve  to  fourteen  hundred 
printed  octavo  pages,  and  to  include  three  maps,  the 
engraving  of  which  will  probably  delay  the  publication 
for  two  or  three  weeks  yet.  I  shall  distribute  my 
share  of  them  as  soon  as  possible,  and  make  them  go 
as  far  as  they  will ;  but  I  cannot  satisfy  half  the  de- 
mands upon  me.  As  each  senator  will  have  nearly 
two  hundred  copies,  while  representatives  have  but 
about  sixty  each,  applications  to  senators,  especially 
from  the  smaller  States,  are  obviously  the  most  promis- 
ing." 

Reference  has  already  been  had  to  Mr.  Greeley's 
exposS  of  the  mileage  swindle.  I  find  in  his  "  Whig 
Almanac  "  for  1850  the  following  additional  statement 
upon  this  subject,  which  shows  how  earnest  he  was  to 
save  money  to  the  government,  and  how  zealously  he 
argued  for  honesty  :  — 

"  Early  in  December  I  called  on  the  sergeant-at- 
arms  for  some  money  on  account,  he  being  paymaster 
of  the  House.  The  schedule  used  by  that  officer  was 
placed  before  me,  showing  the  amount  of  mileage 


MR.    GREELEY  IN   CONGRESS.  179 

respectively  accorded  to  every  member  of  the  House. 
Many  of  these  amounts  struck  me  as  excessive ;  and  I 
tried  to  recollect  if  any  publication  of  all  the  allow- 
ances in  like  case  had  ever  been  made  through  the 
journals,  but  could  not  remember  any  such  publicity. 
On  inquiry,  I  was  informed  that  the  amounts  were 
regularly  published  in  a  certain  document  entitled 
'  The  Public  Accounts,'  of  which  no  considerable  num- 
ber was  printed,  and  which  was  obviously  not  intended 
for  popular  distribution.  (It  is  even  omitted  in  this 
document  for  the  year  1848,  printed  since  I  published 
my  expose  ;  so  that  I  can  now  find  it  in  no  public  doc- 
ument whatever.)  I  could  not  remember  that  1  had 
ever  seen  a  copy,  though  one  had  been  obtained  and 
used  by  my  assistant  in  making  up  last  year's  '  Alma- 
nac.' It  seemed  to  me,  therefore,  desirable  that  the 
facts  should  be  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  public ; 
and  I  resolved  that  it  should  be  done. 

"  But  how  ?  To  have  picked  out  a  few  of  what 
seemed  to  me  the  most  flagrant  cases  of  overcharge, 
and  print  these  alone,  would  be  to  invite  and  secure 
the  reputation  of  partiality,  partisanship,  and  personal 
animosity.  No  other  course  seemed  so  fair  as  to  print 
the  mileage  of  each  member,  with  necessary  elucida- 
tions. I  accordingly  employed  an  ex-clerk  in  one  of 
the  departments,  arid  instructed  him  to  make  out  a 
tabular  expose  as  follows  :  — 


180  LIFE  OP   HORACE   GEEELEY. 

"  1.  Name  of  each  member  of  the  House. 

"  2.  Actual  distance  from  his  residence  to  Washing- 
ton by  the  shortest  post-route. 

"  3.  Distance  for  which  he  is  allowed  and  paid 
mileage. 

"  4.  Amount  of  mileage  received  by  him. 

"  5.  Excess  of  mileage  so  received  over  what  would 
have  been  if  the  distance  had  been  computed  by  the 
shortest  or  most  direct  mail-route. 

"  The  expos^  was  made  out  accordingly,  and 
promptly  forwarded  to  '  The  Tribune,'  in  which  it 
appeared." 

Mr.  Greeley  did  not  charge  that  members  had 
charged  mileage  contrary  to  law,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, admitted  its  legality.  He  said,  "The  members 
are  all  honorable  men :  if  any  irreverent  infidel 
should  doubt  it,  we  can  silence  him  by  referring  to 
the  prefix  to  their  names  in  the  newspapers ;  and  we 
presume  each  has  charged  just  what  the  law  allows 
him.  That  law  expressly  says  that  each  shall  receive 
eight  dollars  for  every  twenty  miles  travelled  in  com- 
ing to  and  returning  from  Congress  '  by  the  usually- 
travelled  route  ; '  and  of  course,  if  the  route  usually 
travelled  from  California  to  Washington  is  around 
Cape  Horn,  or  the  members  from  that  embryo  State 
shall  choose  to  think  it  is,  they  will  each  be  entitled  to 
charge  some  twelve  thousand  dollars  mileage  per  ses- 


MB.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  181 

sion  accordingly.  We  assume  that  each  has  charged 
precisely  what  the  law  allows  him ;  and  thereupon  we 
press  home  the  question,  '  Ought  not  THAT  LAW  to  be 
amended  f '  ' 

This  effort  to  save  money  to  the  country  on  the 
mileage  question  aroused  the  ire  of  the  old  politicians, 
and  they  opposed  all  resolutions  of  amendment.  Nor 
was  it  so  small  a  matter  as  it  might  seem  at  first  sight ; 
for  the  whole  number  of  miles  charged  for  going 
round  by  "  Robin  Hood's  barn,"  so  to  speak,  was 
183,031,  which,  at  forty  cents  a  mile,  amounted  to 
$73,492.60. 

At  length,  the  rage  of  Congress  broke  forth  upon  the 
mileage  question ;  and  a  long  and  sharp  debate  fol- 
lowed, some  contending  that  the  subject  could  not  be 
debated  at  all ;  and  others,  if  it  could,  demanded  what 
should  be  done  about  it.  At  length,  Mr.  Turner  from 
Illinois,  who  had  drawn  $998.40,  moved  a  series  of 
resolutions,  one  of  which  was  the  following :  — 

"Resolved,  That  a  publication  made  in  '  The  New- 
York  Tribune '  on  the day  of  December,  1848,  in 

which  the  mileage  of  members  is  set  forth  and  com- 
mented on,  be  referred  to  a  committee,  with  instruc- 
tions to  inquire  into  and  report  whether  said  publication 
does  not  amount,  in  substance,  to  an  allegation  of 
fraud  against  most  of  the  members  of  this  House  in 
the  matter  of  their  mileage ;  and  if,  in  the  judgment 

16 


182  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GREELEY. 

of  the  committee,  it  does  amount  to  an  allegation  of 
fraud,  then  to  inquire  into  it,  and  report  whether  that 
allegation  is  true  or  false." 

Mr.  Turner  introduced  his  resolutions  in  a  fierce 
speech,  and  altogether  with  such  personal  reflections 
as  did  not  become  an  impartial  debater ;  from  which  I 
select  the  following :  "  He  now  wished  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  House  particularly  to  these  charges 
made  by  the  editor  of  '  The  New- York  Tribune,'  most 
if  not  all  of  which  charges  he  intended  to  show  were 
absolutely  false  ;  and  that  the  individual  who  made 
them  had  either  been  actuated  by  the  low,  base, 
grovelling,  and  malignant  desire  to  represent  the 
Congress  of  the  nation  in  a  false  and  unenviable  light 
before  the  country  and  the  world,  or  that  he  had  been 
actuated  by  motives  still  more  base,  —  by  the  desire  of 
acquiring  an  ephemeral  notoriety  by  blazoning  forth 
to  the  world  what  the  writer  attempted  to  show  was 
fraud.  The  whole  article  abounded  in  gross  errors 
and  wilfully-false  statements,  and  was  evidently 
prompted  by  motives  as  base,  unprincipled,  and  cor- 
rupt as  ever  actuated  an  individual  in  wielding  his 
pen  for  the  public  press. 

"Perhaps  the  gentleman  (he  begged  pardon),  or 
rather  the  individual,  — perhaps  the  thing  that  penned 
that  article  was  not  aware  that  his  (Mr.  Turner's)  por- 
tion of  the  country  was  not  cut  up  by  railroads,  and 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  183 

travelled  by  stage-coaches  and  other  direct  means  of 
public  conveyance,  like  the  omnibuses  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  between  all  points.  They  had  no  other 
channel  of  communication  except  the  mighty  lakes 
or  rivers  of  the  West :  he  could  not  get  here  in  any 
other  way.  The  law  on  the  subject  of  mileage 
authorized  the  members  to  charge  upon  the  most 
direct  usually-travelled  route.  Now,  he  ventured  the 
assertion,  that  there  was  not  an  individual  in  his 
district  who  ever  came  to  this  city,  or  to  any  of  the 
north-eastern  cities,  who  did  not  come  by  the  way  of 
the  lakes  or  the  rivers. 

"  He  did  not  know  but  he  was  engaged  in  a  very 
small  business.  A  gentleman  near  him  suggested  that 
the  writer  of  this  article  would  not  be  believed  any- 
how ;  that,  therefore,  it  was  no  slander.  But  his  con- 
stituents, living  two  or  three  thousand  miles  distant, 
might  not  be  aware  of  the  facts  ;  and  therefore  it  was 
that  he  had  deemed  it  necessary  to  repel  the  slander- 
ous charges  and  imputations  of  fraud,  so  far  as  they 
concerned  him." 

The  House  now  was  pretty  fully  aroused  ;  and  some- 
thing like  the  following  colloquy  ensued  :  — 

"  Mr.  Thompson  of  Indiana  moved  that  the  resolu- 
tions be  laid  on  the  table.  The  yeas  and  nays  were 
asked  and  ordered,  and,  being  taken,  were,  —  yeas, 
twenty-eight ;  nays,  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight. 


184  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  And,  the  question  recurring  on  the  demand  for 
the  previous  question,  — 

"  Mr.  Fries  inquired  of  the  speaker  whether  the 
question  was  susceptible  of  division. 

"  The  speaker  said  that  the  question  could  be  taken 
separately  on  each  resolution. 

"  A  number  of  members  here  requested  Mr.  Evans 
to  withdraw  the  demand  for  the  previous  question ; 
i.e.,  permit  Mr.  Greeley  to  speak. 

"  Mr.  Evans  declined  to  withdraw  the  motion,  and 
desired  to  state  the  reason  why  he  did  so.  The  rea- 
son was,  that  the  gentleman  from  New  York  (Mr. 
Greeley)  had  spoken  to  an  audience  to  which  the 
members  of  this  House  could  not  speak.  If  the  gen- 
tleman wished  to  assail  any  member  of  this  House, 
let  him  do  so  here. 

"  The  speaker  interposed,  and  was  imperfectly 
heard,  but  was  understood  to  say  that  it  was-  out  of 
order  to  refer  personally  to  gentlemen  on  this  floor. 

"  Mr.  Evans  said  he  would  refer  to  the  editor  of 
'  The  Tribune,'  and  he  insisted  that  the  gentleman 
was  not  entitled  to  reply." 

(Loud  cries  from  all  parts  of  the  House,  "  Let  him 
speak  !  "  with  mingling  dissent.) 

"  The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  demand  for 
the  previous  question. 

"  But  the  House  refused  to  second  it. 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  185 

"  Mr.  Greeley,  after  alluding  to  the  comments  that 
had  been  made  upon  the  article  in  '  The  Tribune ' 
relative  to  the  subject  of  mileage,  and  the  abuse 
which  had  notoriously  been  practised  relating  to  it, 
said  he  had  heard  no  gentleman  quote  one  word  in 
that  article  imputing  an  illegal  charge  to  any  member 
of  this  House,  imputing  any  thing  but  a  legal,  proper 
charge.  The  whole  ground  of  the  argument  was 
this:  Ought  not  the  law  to  be  changed?  ought  not 
the  mileage  to  be  settled  by  the  nearest  route,  instead 
of  what  was  called  the  usually-travelled  route,  which 
authorized  a  gentleman  coming  from  the  centre  of 
Ohio  to  go  around  by  Sandusky,  Albany,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  and  charge  mileage 
upon  that  route  ?  He  did  not  object  to  any  gentle- 
man's taking  that  course  if  he  saw  fit ;  but  was  that 
the  route  upon  which  the  mileage  ought  to  be  com- 
puted ? 

"  Mr.  Turner  interposed,  and  inquired  if  the  gen- 
tleman wrote  that  article. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied,  that  the  introduction  to  the 
article  on  mileage  was  written  by  himself:  the  tran- 
script from  the  books  of  this  House  and  from  the 
accounts  of  the  Senate  was  made  by  a  reporter,  at  his 
direction.  That  reporter,  who  was  formerly  a  clerk 
in  the  post-office  department  (Mr.  Douglass  Howard), 
had  taken  the  latest  book  in  the  department,  which 


186  LITE    OP  HORACE   GKEELEY. 

contained  the  distances  of  the  several  post-offices  in 
the  country  from  Washington  ;  and  from  that  book 
he  had  got  —  honestly,  he  knew,  though  it  might  not 
have  been  entirely  accurate  in  an  instance  or  two  — 
the  official  list  of  the  distances  of  the  several  post- 
offices  from  this  city.  In  every  case,  the  post-office 
of  the  member,  whether  of  the  Senate  or  the  House, 
had  been  looked  out,  his  distance  as  charged  set  down^ 
then  the  post-office  referred  to,  and  the  actual,  honest 
distance  by  the  shortest  route  set  down  opposite,  and 
then  the  computation  made  how  much  the  charge  was 
an  excess,  not  of  legal  mileage,  but  of  what  would  be 
legal  if  the  mileage  were  computed  by  the  nearest 
mail-route. 

"  Mr.  King  of  Georgia  desired,  at  this  point  of  the 
gentleman's  remarks,  to  say  a  word.  The  gentleman 
said  that  the  members  charged.  Now,  he  (Mr.  King) 
desired  to  say  with  reference  to  himself,  that,  from 
the  first,  he  had  always  refused  to  give  any  informa- 
tion to  the  committee  on  mileage  with  respect  to  the 
mileage  to  which  he  would  be  entitled.  He  had  told 
them  it  was  their  special  duty  to  settle  the  matter ; 
that  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  He,  there- 
fore, had  charged  nothing. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  (continuing)  said  he  thought  all  this 
showed  the  necessity  of  a  new  rule  on  the  subject ; 
for  here  they  saw  members  shirking  off,  —  shrinking 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  187 

from  the  responsibility,  and  throwing  it  from  one 
place  to  another.  Nobody  made  up  the  account ;  but, 
somehow,  an  excess  of  sixty  or  seventy  thousand 
dollars  was  charged  in  the  accounts  for  mileage,  and 
was  paid  from  the  treasury. 

"  Mr.  King  interrupted,  and  asked  if  he  meant  to 
charge  him  (Mr.  King)  with  shirking.  Was  that  Jthe 
gentleman's  remark  ? 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied,  that  he  only  said,  that,  by  some 
means  or  other,  this  excess  of  mileage  was  charged, 
and  was  paid  by  the  treasury.  This  money  ought  to 
be  saved.  The  same  rule  ought  to  be  applied  to 
members  of  Congress  that  was  applied  to  other  per- 
sons. 

"  Mr.  King  desired  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  New 
York  if  he  had  correctly  understood  his  language  ;  for 
he  had  heard  him  indistinctly.  He  (Mr.  King)  had 
made  the  positive  statement  that  he  had  never  had 
any  thing  to  do  with  reference  to  the  charge  of  his 
mileage,  and  he  had  understood  the  gentleman  from 
New  York  to  speak  of  shirking  from  responsibility. 
He  desired  to  know  if  the  gentleman  applied  that 
term  to  him. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  said  he  had  applied  it  to  no  member. 

"  Mr.  King  asked,  '  Why  make  use  of  the  term, 
then  ? ' 

"  Mr.  Greeley's  reply  to  this  interrogatory  was  lost 


188  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GKEELEY. 

in  the  confusion  which  prevailed  in  consequence  of 
members  leaving  their  seats,  and  coming  forward  to 
the  area  in  the  centre. 

"  The  speaker  called  the  House  to  order,  and  re- 
quested gentlemen  to  take  their  seats. 

"Mr.  Greeley  proceeded.  There  was  no  intima- 
tion in  the  article  that  any  member  had  made  out 
his  own  account ;  but,  somehow  or  other,  the  accounts 
had  been  so  made  up  as  to  make  a  total  excess  of 
some  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  dollars,  chargeable 
upon  the  treasury.  The  general  facts  had  been 
stated  to  show  that  the  law  ought  to  be  different ; 
and  there  were  several  cases  cited  to  show  how  the 
law  worked  badly.  For  instance :  From  one  district  in 
Ohio  the  member  formerly  charged  for  four  hundred 
miles  when  he  came  on  his  own  horse  all  the  way ; 
but  now  the  member  from  the  same  district  received 
mileage  for  some  eight  or  nine  hundred  miles.  Now, 
ought  that  to  be  so  ?  The  whole  argument  turned  on 
this :  Now  the  distances  were  travelled  much  easier 
than  formerly,  and  yet  more  —  in  many  cases  much 
more  —  mileage  was  charged.  The  gentleman  from 
Ohio  who  commenced  this  discussion  had  made  the 
point  that  there  was  some  defect,  some  miscalculation, 
in  the  estimate  of  distances.  He  could  not  help  it : 
they  had  taken  the  post-office  books,  and  relied  on 
them ;  and  if  any  member  of  the  press  had  nick"<J 


MR.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  189 

out  a  few  members  of  this  House,  and  held  up  their 
charges  for  mileage,  it  would  have  been  considered 
invidious. 

"  Mr.  Turner  called  the  attention  of  the  member 
from  New  York  to  the  fact  that  the  postmaster-general 
himself  had  thrown  aside  that  post-office  book  in  conse- 
quence of  its  incorrectness.  He  asked  the  gentleman 
if  he  did  not  know  that  fact. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied,  that  the  article  itself  stated 
that  the  department  did  not  charge  mileage  upon  that 
book.  Every  possible  excuse  and  mitigation  had  been 
given  in  the  article  ;  but  he  appealed  to  the  House, — 
they  were  the  masters  of  the  law,  —  why  would  they 
not  change  it,  and  make  it  more  just  and  equal? 

"  Mr.  Sawyer  wished  to  be  allowed  to  ask  the  gen- 
tleman from  New  York  a  question.  His  complaint 
was,  that  the  article  had  done  him  injustice  by  setting 
him  down  as  some  three  hundred  miles  nearer  the 
seat  of  government  than  his  colleague  (Mr.  Schenck), 
although  his  colleague  had  stated  before  the  House 
that  he  (Mr.  Sawyer)  resided  some  sixty  or  seventy 
miles  farther.  Now,  he  wanted  to  know  t  why  the 
gentleman  had  made  this  calculation  against  him,  and 
in  favor  of  his  colleague. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  replied,  that  he  begged  to  assure  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  that  he  did  not  think  he  had 
ever  been  in  his  thoughts  from  the  day  he  had  come 


190  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GBEELEY. 

here  until  the  present  day ;  but  he  had  taken  the 
figures  from  the  post-office  book,  as  transcribed  by  a 
former  clerk  iu  the  post-office  department." 

Jan.  4,  "  Congress  showed  its  spite "  (says  Mr. 
Partou  in  his  "  Life  of  Mr.  Greeley  ")  "  at  the  mileage 
expose  in  a  truly  extraordinary  manner.  At  the  last 
session  of  this  very  Congress,  the  mileage  of  the 
messengers  appointed  by  the  electoral  'colleges  to 
bear  their  respective  votes  for  president  and  vice- 
president  to  Washington  had  been  reduced  to  twelve 
and  a  half  cents  per  mile  each  way.  But  now  it 
was  perceived  by  members  that  either  tlie  mileage 
of  the  messengers  must  be  restored,  or  their  own 
reduced.  '  Accordingly,'  wrote  Mr.  Greeley  in  one 
of  his  letters,  '  a  joint  resolution  was  promptly  sub- 
mitted to  the  Senate,  doubling  the  mileage  of  mes- 
sengers ;  and  it  went  through  that  exalted  body  very 
quickly  and  easily.  I  had  not  noticed  that  it  had  been 
definitively  acted  on  at  all  until  it  made  its  appearance 
in  the  House  to-day,  and  was  driven  through  with  inde- 
cent rapidity  well  befitting  its  character.  No  commit- 
tee was  allowed  to  examine  it ;  no  opportunity  was 
afforded  to  discuss  it :  but  by  whip  and  spur,  previous 
question,  and  brute  force  of  numbers,  it  was  rushed 
through  the  necessary  stages,  and  sent  to  the  president 
for  his  sanction.' 

"  The  injustice  of  this  impudent  measure  is  appar- 


MB.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  191 

ent  from  the  fact,  that,  on  the  reduced  scale  of  com- 
pensation, messengers  received  from  ten  to  twenty 
dollars  a  day  during  the  period  of  their  necessary 
absence  from  home.  The  messenger  from  Maine,  for 
instance,  brings  the  vote  of  his  State  five  hundred  and 
ninety-five  miles,  and  need  not  be  more  than  eight 
days  absent  from  his  business,  at  an  expense  certainly 
not  exceeding  sixty  dollars  in  all.  The  reduced  com- 
pensation was  $148.75,  paying  his  expenses,  and  giving 
him  eleven  dollars  per  day  over." 

Another  debate  ensued  on  the  mileage  question  ;  but 
it  took  a  ludicrous  phase,  and  finally  terminated  in 
the  following  colloquy  on  dead-heads:  — 

"  Mr.  Murphy  said,  when  he  came  on,  he  left  New 
York  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  arrived  at 
Philadelphia  to  supper ;  and  then,  entering  the  car 
again,  he  slept  very  comfortably,  and  was  here  in  the 
morning  at  eight  o'clock.  He  lost  no  time.  The 
mileage  was  ninety  dollars. 

"  Mr.  Root  would  inquire  of  the  gentleman  from 
New  York  whether  he  took  his  passage  and  came  on 
as  what  the  agents  sometimes  call  a  *  dead-head.' 
[Laughter.] 

"  Mr.  Murphy  replied  (amid  considerable  merri- 
ment and  laughter)  that  he  did  not  know  of  more 
than  one  member  belonging  to  the  New- York  delega- 
tion to  whom  that  application  could  properly  attach. 


192  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  Mr.  Root  said,  although  his  friend  from  New1 
York  was  tolerably  expert  in  every  thing  he  treated 
of,  yet  he  might  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
term  he  used.  He  would  inform  him  that  the  term 
4  dead-head'  was  applied  by  the  steamboat  gentleman 
to  passengers  who  were  allowed  to  travel  without  pay- 
ing their  fare.  [A  great  deal  of  merriment  prevailed 
throughout  the  hall  upon  this  allusion,  as  it  manifestly 
referred  to  the  two  editors,  —  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Levin,  and  the  gentleman  from  New 
York,  Mr.  Greeley.]  But  Mr.  Root  (continuing  to 
speak)  said  he  was  opposed  to  all  personalities :  he 
never  indulged  in  any  such  thing  himself,  and  he  never 
would  favor  such  indulgence  on  the  part  of  other  gen- 
tlemen. 

"  Mr.  Levin.  —  I  want  merely  to  say  — 

"  Mr.  Root.  —  I  am  afraid  "  — 

[The  confusion  of  voices  and  merriment  which 
followed  completely  drowned  the  few  words  of  pleasant 
explanation  delivered  here  by  Mr.  Levin.] 

"  Mr.  Greeley  addressed  the  chair. 

"The  Chairman. — The  gentleman  from  New  York 
will  suspend  his  remarks  till  the  committee  shall  come 
to  order. 

"  Order  being  restored,  — 

"  Mr.  Greeley  said  he  did  not  pretend  to  know 
what  the  editor  of  '  The  Philadelphia  Sun,'  the  gen- 


MB.   GREELEY  IN  CONGRESS.  193 

tleman  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Levin),  had  done; 
but,  if  any  gentleman  anxious  about  the  matter 
would  inquire  at  the  railroad-offices  in  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore,  he  would  there  be  informed  that  he 
(Mr.  Greeley)  never  had  passed  over  any  portion  of 
either  of  those  roads  free^of  charge,  —  neverjp  the 
world.  One  of  the  gentlemen  interested  had  once 
told  him  he  might ;  but  he  never  had. 

"  Mr.  Embree  next  obtained  the  floor,  but  gave  way 
for  Mr.  Haralson,  who  moved  that  the  committee  rise. 

"  Mr.  Greeley  appealed  to  the  gentleman  from 
Georgia  (Mr.  Haralson)  to  withhold  his  motion  while 
he  might,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  gentleman  from 
Indiana  *(Mr.  Embree),  make  a  brief  reply  to  the 
allusions  which  had  been  made  to  him  and  his  course 
upon  this  subject.  He  asked  ^  only  for  five  minutes; 
but 

"  Mr.  Haralson  adhered  to  his  motion,  which  was 
agreed  to." 

It  seemed  as  though  this  mileage  question  would 
never  be  settled  ;  for  it  came  up  a  third  time  upon  a 
discussion  upon  the  slave-trade,  when  Mr.  Greeley 
defended  himself  in  a  speech  of  considerable  power 
and  great  eloquence,  from  which  I  select  the  follow- 
ing :  — 

"  The  gentleman  saw  fit  to  speak  of  my  vocation  as 
an  editor,  and  to  charge  me  with  editing  my  paper 

17 


194  LIFE  OP  HORACE   GBEELEY. 

from  my  seat  on  this  floor.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not 
believe  there  is  one  member  in  this  hall  who  has  writ- 
ten less  in  his  seat  this  session  than  I  have  done.  I 
have  been  too  much  absorbed  in  the  (to  me)  novel 
and  exciting  scenes  around  me  to  write,  and  have 
written  no  editorial  here.  Time  enough  for  that,  sir, 
before  and  after  your  daily  sessions.  But  the  gentle- 
man either  directly  charged  or  plainly  insinuated  that 
I  have  neglected  my  duties  as  a  member  of  this  House 
to  attend  to  my  own  private  business.  I  meet  this 
charge  with  a  positive  and  circumstantial  denial. 
Except  a  brief  sitting  one  private-bill  day,  I  have  not 
been  absent  one  hour  in  all,  nor  the  half  of  it,  from 
the  deliberations  of  this  House.  I  have  never  voted 
for  an  early  adjournment,  nor  to  adjourn  over.  My 
name  will  be  found  recorded  on  every  call  of  the 
yeas  and  nays.  And,  as  the  gentleman  insinuated  a 
neglect  of  my  duties  as  a  member  of  a  committee  (on 
public  lands),  I  appeal  to  its  chairman  for  proof,  to 
any  that  need  it,  that  I  have  never  been  absent  from 
a  meeting  of  that  committee,  nor  any  part  of  one  ; 
and  that  I  have  rather  sought  than  shunned  labor 
upon  it.  And  I  am  confident,  that,  alike  in  my  seat 
and  out  of  it,  I  shall  do  as  large  a  share  of  the  work 
devolving  upon  this  House  as  the  gentleman  from 
Mississippi  will  deem  desirable. 

"  And   now,  Mr.  Chairman,  a  word   on   the   main 


MB.    GREELEY  IN  CONGEESS.  195 

question  before  us.  I  know  very  well,  I  knew  from 
the  first,  what  a  low,  contemptible,  demagoguing 
business  this,  of  attempting  to  save  public  money, 
always  is.  It  is  not  a  task  for  gentlemen :  it  is 
esteemed  rather  disreputable  even  for  editors.  Your 
gentlemanly  work  is  spending,  lavishing,  distributing, 
taking.  Savings  are  always  such  vulgar,  beggarly, 
twopenny  affairs,  that  there  is  a  sorry  and  stingy  look 
about  them  most  repugnant  to  all  gentlemanly  in- 
stincts. And  besides,  if  they  happen  to  hit  the  right 
place,  it  is  always,  *  Strike  higher  !  '  '  Strike  lower  ! ' 
To  be  generous  with  other  people's  money,  generous 
to  self  and  friends  especially,  —  that  is  the  way  to  be 
popular  and  commended.  Go  ahead,  and  never  care 
for  expense :  if  your  debts  become  inconvenient,  you 
can  repudiate,  and  blackguard  your  creditors  as 
descended  from  Judas  Iscariot !  Ah  !  Mr.  Chairman, 
I  was  not  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  gentility." 

I  close  this  chapter  of  Mr.  Greeley's  three  months 
in  Congress,  in  which  he  did  many  things  for  the 
public  good  which  have  not  been  here  enumerated, 
with  the  conclusion  of  his  address  to  his  constituents. 
Enough  has,  however,  been  shown  to  exhibit  the 
honesty  and  integrity  of  the  man. 

"  My  work  as  your  servant  is  done  :  whether  well,  or 
ill,  it  remains  for  you  to  judge.  Very  likely  I  gave 
the  wrong  vote  on  some  difficult  and  complicated 


196  LIFE   OF   HOBACE   GBEELEY. 

questions  to  which  I  was  called  upon  to  respond  ay  or 
no  with  hardly  a  moment's  warning.  If  so,  you  can 
detect  and  condemn  the  error ;  for  my  name  stands 
recorded  in  the  divisions  by  yeas  and  nays  on  every 
public  and  all  but  one  private  bill  (which  was  laid  on 
the  table  the  moment  the  sitting  opened,  and  on 
which  my  name  had  just  been  passed  as  I  entered  the 
hall). 

"  I  wish  it  were  the  usage  among  us  to  publish  less 
of  speeches,  and  more  of  propositions  and  votes  there- 
upon :  it  would  give  the  mass  of  the  people  a  much 
clearer  insight  into  the  management  of  their  public 
affairs. 

'I  My  successor  being  already  chosen  and  com- 
missioned, I  shall  hardly  be  suspected  of  seeking  your 
further  kindness  ;  and  I  shall  be  heartily  rejoiced  if  he 
shall  be  able  to  combine  equal  zeal  in  your  service 
with  greater  efficiency,  equal  fearlessness  with  greater 
popularity.  That  I  have  been  somewhat  annoyed  at 
times  by  some  of  the  consequences  of  my  mileage 
expose  is  true  ;  but  I  have  never  wished  to  recall  it, 
nor  have  I  felt  that  I  owed  an  apology  to  any  ;  and  I 
am  quite  confident,  that,  if  you  had  sent  to  Washing- 
ton (as  you  doubtless  might  have  done)  a  more 
sternly  honest  and  fearless  representative,  he  would 
have  made  himself  more  unpopular  with  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  House  than  I  did.  I  thank  you  heartily 


MR.   GREELEY  IN   CONGRESS.  197 

for  the  glimpse  of  public  life  which  your  favor  has 
afforded  me,  and  hope  to  render  it  useful  henceforth, 
not  to  myself  only,  but  to  the  public. 

"  In  ceasing  to  be  your  agent,  and  returning  with 
renewed  zest  to  my  private  cares  and  duties,  I  have  a 
single  additional  favor  to  ask,  not  of  you  especially, 
but  of  all ;  and  I  am  sure  my  friends  at  least  will 
grant  it  without  hesitation.  It  is  that  you  and  they 
will  oblige  me  henceforth  by  remembering  that  my 
name  is  simply  '  Horace  Greeley.' ' 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MR.  GREELEY  AND  HIS  BEGGARS  AND  BORROWERS. 

New  York  and  Beggars.  —  A  Few  of  the  Sufferers.  —  Begging  for  Churches. 
—  Chronic  Beggars.  —  Borrowers. — Not  to  injure  the  Needy.  —  A  Case 
stated.  —  Borrowers  of  Strangers  never  pay.  —  A  Beggar's  Letter.  — 
Church- Members  Begging  or  Borrowing.  —  Associations  can  deal  with 
Beggars  better  than  Individuals  can.  —  Does  not  condemn  Borrowing 
wholly.  —  A  Duty  to  lend  sometimes.  —  Remarks. 

HORACE  GREELEY  had  his  share  of  trashy 
beggars,  as  all  men  do  who  are  in  any  way  con- 
nected with  public  life.  While  the  writer  could  tell 
an  amusing  tale  of  beggars  by  whom  he  has  been 
beset,  he  cannot  tell  Mr.  Greeley's  plagues  of  this  kind 
better  than  he  has  told  them  in  his  "  Recollections  of 
a  Busy  Life ; "  and  therefore  the  reader  shall  have 
them  in  Mr.  Greeley's  own  style.  Here  they  are :  — 
"New  York  is  the  metropolis  of  beggary.  The 
wrecks  of  incapacity,  miseducation,  prodigality,  and 
profligacy,  drift  hither  from  either  continent,  and  are 
finally  stranded  on  our  shore.  Has  a  pretentious 
family  in  Europe  a  member  who  is  felt  as  a  burden,  or 

198 


MB.  GREELEY'S  BEGGARS  AND  BORROWERS.    199 

loathed  as  a  disgrace,  money  is  somehow  scraped 
together  to  ship  him  off  to  New  York ;  taking  good 
care  that  there  be  not  enough  to  enable  him  to  ship 
himself  back  again.  Does  a  family  collapse  anywhere 
in  the  interior  or  along  the  coast  of  our  country,  leav- 
ing a  helpless  widow  and  fatherless  children  to  strug- 
gle with  difficulties  utterly  unexpected  and  unprepared 
for,  —  though  too  proud  to  work,  or  even  beg,  where 
they  are  known, —  they  are  ready  enough  to  try  their 
fortune  and  hide  their  fall  in  this  great  emporium,  where 
they  would  gladly  do  (if  they  could  get  it)  the  very 
work  which  they  reject  as  degrading  in  the  home  of 
their  bygone  prosperity  and  consequence.  Though 
living  is  here  most  expensive,  and  only  eminent  skill 
or  efficiency  can  justify  migration  hither  on  the  part 
of  any  but  single  young  men,  yet  mechanics  and  labor- 
ers of  very  moderate  ability,  and  even  widows  with 
small  children,  hie  hither  in  reckless  defiance  of  the 
fact  that  myriads  have  done  so  before  them,  —  at  least 
uineteen-twentieths  of  them  only  to  plunge  thereby 
into  deeper,  more  squalid,  hopeless  misery  than  they 
had  previously  known.  Want  is  a  hard  master  any- 
where ;  but  nowhere  else  are  the  sufferings,  the  woes, 
the  desperation,  of  utter  need,  so  trying  as  in  a  great 
city :  and  they  are  pre-eminently  so  in  this  city,  because 
the  multiplicity  of  the  destitute  benumbs  the  heart  of 
charity,  and  precludes  attention  to  any  one's  wants ; 


200  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GREELEY. 

while  each  is  absorbed  in  his  own  cares  and  efforts  to 
such  extent,  that  he  knows  nothing  of  the  neighbors 
who  may  be  starving  to  death,  with  barely  a  brick  wall 
between  him  and  them. 

"  The  beggars  of  New  York  comprise  but  a  small 
proportion  of  its  sufferers  from  want ;  yet  they  are  at 
once  very  numerous,  and  remarkably  impudent.  One 
who  would  accept  a  franc  in  Paris,  or  a  shilling  in 
London,  with  grateful  acknowledgments,  considers 
himself  ill  used  and  insulted  if  you  offer  him  less  than 
a  dollar  in  New  York.  With  thousands  beggary  is  a 
profession,  whereof  the  rudiments  were  acquired  in 
the  Old  World  ;  but  experience  and  observation  have 
qualified  them  to  pursue  it  with  veteran  proficiency 
and  success  in  the  New.  Even  our  native  beggars 
have  a  boldness  of  aspiration,  an  audacity  of  con- 
ception, such  as  the  magnificent  proportions  of  our 
lakes  and  valleys,  our  mountains  and  prairies,  are  cal- 
culated to  inspire.  I  doubt  if  an  Asiatic  or  Euro- 
pean beggar  ever  frankly  avowed  his  intent  to  beg  the 
purchase-money  of  a  good  farm,  though  some  may 
have  invested  their  gains  thus  laudably ;  but  I  have 
been  solicited  by  more  than  one  American,  who  had 
visited  this  city,  from  points  hundreds  of  miles  distant, 
expressly  and  avowedly  to  beg  the  means  of  buying  a 
homestead.  I  wish  I  were  certain  that  none  of  these 
had  more  success  with  others  than  with  ine. 


ME.  GREELEY'S  BEGGARS  AND  BORROWERS.    201 

"  Begging  for  churches,  for  seminaries,  for  libraries, 
has  been  one  of  our  most  crying  nuisances.  If  there 
be  two  hundred  negro  families  living  in  a  city,  they 
will  get  up  a  Baptist,  a  Methodist,  and  perhaps 
an  Episcopal  or  Congregational  church  ;  and,  being 
generally  poor,  they  will  undertake  to  build  for  each 
a  meeting-house,  and  support  a  clergyman, — in  good 
part,  of  course,  by  begging,  —  often  in  distant  cities. 
A  dozen  boys  attending  a  seminary  will  form  a  library 
association  or  debating  club,  and  then  levy  on  man- 
kind in  general  for  the  books  they  would  like  to  pos- 
sess. Thus,  in  addition  to  our  resident  mendicancy, 
New  York  is  made  the  cruising-ground,  the  harvest- 
field,  of  the  high-soaring  beggary  of  a  whole  continent ; 
while  our  princely  merchants,  at  some  seasons,  are 
waited  upon  by  more  solicitors  of  contributions  than 
purchasers  of  goods.  Hence  our  rich  men  gener- 
ally court  and  secure  a  reputation  for  meanness, 
which  may  or  may  not  be  deserved  in  a  particu- 
lar instance,  but  which,  in  any  case,  is  indispensa- 
ble as  a  protection,  like  the  shell  of  a  tortoise.  Were 
they  reputed  benevolent  and  free-handed,  they  would 
never  be  allowed  time  to  attend  to  their  business,  and 
could  not  enjoy  an  hour's  peace  in  the  bosom  of  their 
respective  families. 

"  The  chronic  beggars  are  a  bad  lot ;  but  the  sys- 
tematic borrowers  are  far  worse.  What  you  give  is 


202  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

gone,  and  soon  forgotten :  there  is  the  end  of  it.  It 
is  presumable  that  you  can  spare,  or  you  would  have 
withheld  it.  But  you  lend  (in  your  greener  days) 
with  some  expectation  of  being  repaid :  hence  disap- 
pointment and  serious  loss  —  sometimes  even  dis- 
grace —  because  of  your  abused  faith  in  human 
nature.  I  presume  no  year  passes  wherein  the  solvent 
business-men  of  this  city  lose  so  little  as  ten  millions 
of  dollars,  borrowed  of  them  for  a  few  hours  or  days, 
as  a  momentary  accommodation,  by  neighbors  and 
acquaintances,  who  would  resent  a  suggested  doubt  of 
its  punctual  repayment,  yet  who  never  do  repay  it.  I 
am  confident  that  good  houses  have  been  reduced  to 
bankruptcy  by  these  most  irregular  and  improvident 
loans. 

"  Worse  still  is  the  habit  of  borrowing  and  lend- 
ing among  clerks  and  young  mechanics.  A  part 
of  these  are  provident,  thrifty,  frugal,  and  so  save 
money :  another  and  much  larger  class  prefer  to  '  live 
as  they  go,'  and  are  constantly  spending  in  drink  and 
other  dissipation  that  portion  of  their  earnings  which 
they  should  save.  When  I  was  a  journeyman,  I  knew 
several  who  earned  more  than  I  did,  but  who  were 
always  behind  with  their  board.  Men  of  this  class 
are  continually  borrowing  five  or  ten  dollars  of  their 
frugal  acquaintances  to  invest  in  a  ball,  a  sleigh-ride, 
an  excursion,  a  frolic ;  and  a  large  proportion  of 


MB.  GBEELEY'S  BEGGAKS  AND  BOBBOWEBS.    203 

these  loans  is  never  repaid.  Millions  of  dollars,  in 
the  aggregate,  are  thus  transferred  from  the  pockets 
of  the  frugal  to  those  of  the  prodigal ;  depriving  the 
former  of  means  they  are  sure  to  need  when  they 
come  to  furnish  a  house  or  undertake  a  business,  and 
doing  the  latter  no  good,  but  rather  confirming  them 
in  their  evil  ways.  Such  lending  should  be  systemati- 
cally discountenanced  and  refused. 

"  I  hate  to  say  any  thing  that  seems  calculated  to  steel 
others  against  the  prayers  of  the  unfortunate  and 
necessitous;  yet  an  extensive,  protracted  experience 
has  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  nine-tenths  of  those 
who  solicit  loans  of  strangers  or  casual  acquaintances 
are  thriftless  vagabonds  who  will  never  be  better  off 
than  at  present,  or  scoundrels  who  would  not  pay  if 
they  were  able.  In  hundreds  of  cases  I  have  been 
importuned  to  lend  from  one  dollar  up  to  ten  dollars 
to  help  a  stranger  who  had  come  to  the  city  on  some 
errand  or  other,  had  here  fallen  among  thieves  (who 
are  far  more  abundant  here  than  they  ever  were  on  the 
road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho),  been  made  drunk, 
and  plundered  of  his  last  cent,  and  who  asked  only 
enough  to  take  him  home,  when  the  money  would  be 
surely  and  promptly  returned.  Sometimes  I  have 
lent  the  sum  required ;  in  other  cases  I  have  refused  it: 
but  I  cannot  remember  a  single  instance  in  which  the 
promise  to  pay  was  made  good.  I  recollect  a  case 


204  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

wherein  a  capable,  intelligent  New-England  mechanic, 
on  his  way  from  an  Eastern  city  to  work  two  hundred 
miles  up  the  Erie  Railroad,  borrowed  of  me  the  means 
of  saving  his  children  from  famine  on  the  way,  promis- 
ing to  pay  it  out  of  his  first  month's  wages ;  which  he 
took  care  never  to  do.  This  case  differs  from  many 
others  only  in  that  the  swindler  was  clearly  of  a 
better  class  than  that  from  which  the  great  army  of 
borrowers  is  so  steadily  and  bounteously  recruited. 

"  In  one  instance  a  young  man  came  with  the 
usual  request,  and  was  asked  to  state  his  case.  '  I 
am  a  clerk  from  New-  Hampshire,'  he  began,  '  and 
have  been  for  three  years  employed  in  Georgia.  At 
length,  a  severe  sickness  prostrated  me ;  I  lost  my 
place;  my  money  was  exhausted:  and  here  am  I,  with 
my  wife,  without  a  cent;  and  I  want  to  borrow  enough 
to  take  me  home  to  my  father's  house,  and  I  will 
surely  repay  it.'  —  'Stranger,'  was  the  response,  'you 
evidently  cannot  stay  here,  and  I  must  help  you  get 
away.  But  why  say  any  thing  about  paying  me  ?  You 
know,  and  I  know,  you  will  never  pay  a  cent.'  My 
visitor  protested  and  remonstrated  ;  but  I  convinced, 
if  I  did  not  convert  him.  '  Don't  you  see,'  I  re- 
joined, '  that  you  cannot  have  been  three  years  a  clerk 
in  a  leading  mercantile  house  in  Georgia  without 
making  the  acquaintance  of  merchants  doing  business 
in  this  city  ?  Now,  if  you  were  a  person  likely  to 


MB.  GREELEY'S  BEGGARS  AND  BORROWERS.    205 

pay,  you  would  apply  to  and  obtain  help  from  those 
merchants  whom  you  know ;  not  ask  help  of  me,  an 
utter  stranger.'  He  did  not  admit  the  force  of  my 
demonstration ;  but  of  course  the  sequel  proved  it 
correct. 

"  I  consider  it  all  but  an  axiom,  that  he  who  asks  a 
stranger  to  lend  him  money  will  never  pay  it ;  yet  I 
have  known  an  exception.  Once,  when  I  was  exceed- 
ingly poor  and  needy,  in  a  season  of  commercial 
revulsion  or  '  panic,'  I  opened  a  letter  from  Utica, 
and  found  therein  five  dollars,  which  the  writer  asked 
me  to  receive  in  satisfaction  of  a  loan  of  that  sum 
which  I  had  made  him  —  a  needy  stranger  —  on  an 
occasion  which  he  recalled  to  my  remembrance. 
Perplexed  by  so  unusual  a  message,  and  especially  by 
receiving  it  at  such  a  time,  when  every  one  was  seek- 
ing to  borrow,  —  no  one  condescending  to  pay,  —  I 
scanned  the  letter  more  closely,  and  at  length  achieved 
a  solution  of  the  problem.  The  writer  was  a  patient 
in  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum. 

"  A  gushing  youth  once  wrote  me  to  this  effect :  — 

"  '  DEAR  SIR, — Among  your  literary  treasures,  you 
have  doubtless  preserved  several  autographs  of  our 
country's  late  lamented  poet,  Edgar  A.  Poe.  If  so, 
and  you  can  spare  one,  please  enclose  it  to  me,  and 
receive  the  thanks  of  yours  truly.' 

18 


206  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

"  I  promptly  responded  as  follows :  — 

" '  DEAR  SIR, —  Among  my  literary  treasures,  there 
happens  to  be  exactly  one  autograph  of  our  country's 
late  lamented  poet,  Edgar  A.  Poe.  It  is  his  note  of 
hand  for  fifty  dollars,  with  my  indorsement  across  the 
back.  It  cost  me  exactly  $50.75  (including  protest)  ; 
and  you  may  have  it  for  half  that  amount.  Yours 
respectfully.' 

"That  autograph,  I  regret  to  say,  remains  on -my 
hands,  and  is  still  for  sale  at  first  cost,  despite  the  lapse 
of  time  and  the  depreciation  of  our  currency. 

"  I  once  received  a  letter  from  an  utter  stranger 
living  two  hundred  miles  away,  asking  me  to  lend  him 
a  large  sum  on  a  mortgage  of  his  farm,  and  closing 
thus :  — 

" '  P.S. — My  religious  views  are  radically  antagonist 
to  yours ;  but  I  know  no  member  of  my  own  church 
of  whom  I  would  so  readily,  and  with  such  confidence, 
ask  such  a  favor,  as  of  you.' 

"  This  postscript  impelled  me,  instead  of  dropping 
the  letter  quietly  into  the  waste-basket  as  usual,  and 
turning  to  the  next  business  in  order,  to  answer  him 
as  follows :  — 

" '  SIR,  —  I  have  neither  the  money  you  ask  for,  nor 
the  inclination  to  lend  it  on  the  security  you  proffer ; 


MB.  GBEELEY'S  BEGGABS  AND  BOBBOWEBS.    207 

and  your  P.S.  prompts  the  suggestion,  that  whenever 
I  shall  be  moved  to  seek  favors  of  the  members  of 
some  other  church,  rather  than  of  that  to  which  I 
have  hitherto  adhered,  I  shall  make  haste  to  join  that 
other  church.' 

"  I  trust  I  have  here  said  nothing  calculated  to  stay 
the  hand  or  chill  the  spirit  of  heaven-born  Charity. 
The  world  is  full  of  needy,  suffering  ones,  who  richly 
deserve  compassion  ;  not  to  speak  of  the  vagrants,  who, 
though  undeserving,  must  not  be  allowed  to  starve  or 
freeze.  I  was  struck  with  the  response  of  a  man  last 
from  St.  Louis,  who  recently  insisted  on  being  helped 
on  to  Boston,  which  he  said  was  his  early  home,  and 
to  whom  I  roughly  made  answer,  '  You  need  not 
pretend  to  me  that  the  universe  is  bankrupt :  I  know 
better,  —  know  that  a  man  of  your  natural  abilities,  if 
he  only  behaved  himself,  need  not  be  reduced  to 
beggary.'  — '  Well,  sir,'  he  quickly  rejoined,  '  I  don't 
pretend  that  I  have  always  done  the  right  thing ;  if 
I  did,  you  would  know  better.  All  I  say  is,  that  I  am 
hungry  and  penniless ;  and  that,  if  I  can  only  get  back 
to  Boston,  I  can  there  make  a  living.  That's  my 
whole  story.'  I  felt  that  he  had  the  better  reason  on 
his  side. 

"  There  must,  there  will,  be  heavy  drafts  made  on 
the  sympathies  and  the  means  of  all  who  can  and  will 


208  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

give,  especially  during  a  hard,  dull  winter  or  a 
*  panic.'  Every  prosperous  man  should  ask  himself, 
'  How  much  can  I  afford  to  give  ? '  and  should  set 
apart  from  a  tenth  to  a  third  of  his  income  for  the 
relief  of  the  needy  and  suffering.  Then  he  should 
search  out  the  most  effective  channels  through  which 
to  reach  those  whose  privations  are  greatest,  and  on 
whom  private  alms  can  be  wisely  and  usefully  ex- 
pended. There  are  thousands  who  ought  to  go  to  the 
almshouse  at  once,  —  who  will  be  more  easily  sup- 
ported there  than  elsewhere  ;  and  it  is  no  charity  to 
squander  your  means  on  these.  A  great  majority  of  the 
destitute  can  be  far  better  dealt  with  by  associations 
than  by  individuals  ;  and  of  good  associations  for  phil- 
anthropic purposes  there  is,  happily,  no  lack  in  any 
great  city.  There  remains  a  scanty  residuum  of  cases 
wherein  money  or  food  must  be  given  at  once  by 
whomsoever  happens  to  be  nearest  to  the  sufferer :  but 
two-thirds  of  those  who  beg  from  door  to  door,  or  who 
write  begging-letters,  are  the  very  last  persons  who 
ought  to  be  given  even  a  shinplaster-dime  ;  and,  as  a 
general  rule,  the  importunity  of  a  beggar  is  in  inverse 
proportion  to  his  deserving,  or  even  to  his  need. 

" '  Then  you  condemn  borrowing  and  lending 
entirely  ? ' 

"  No,  I  do  not.  Many  a  man  knows  how  to  use 
wisely  and  beneficently  means  that  he  does  not,  while 


ME.  GEEELEY'S  BEGGAES  AND  BOEEOWEES.    209 

others  do,  possess :  lending  to  such,  under  proper 
safeguards,  is  most  commendable.  Many  a  young 
farmer,  who,  by  working  for  others,  has  earned  a 
thousand  dollars,  and  saved  a  good  part  of  it,  is  now 
prepared  to  work  a  farm  of  his  own.  He  who  lends 
such  a  youth  from  one  'to  two  thousand  dollars 
wherewith  to  purchase  a  farm,  taking  a  mortgage 
thereon  for  the  amount,  and  leaving  to  the  young 
farmer  his  own  well-earned  means  wherewith  to  buy 
stock  and  seed,  provisions  and  implements,  will  often 
enable  him  to  work  his  way  into  a  modest  independ- 
ence, surrounded  and  blessed  by  a  wife  and  children, 
himself  a  useful  member  of  society  and  a  true  pillar 
of  the  State,  when  he  must,  but  for  that  loan,  have 
remained  years  longer  single  and  a  hireling.  So  a 
mechanic  may  often  be  wisely  and  safely  aided  to 
establish  himself  in  business  by  a  timely  and  well- 
secured  loan  ;  but  this  should  never  be  accorded  him, 
till,  by  years  of  patient,  frugal  industry,  he  has 
qualified  himself  for  mastery,  and  proved  himself 
worthy  of  trust.  (Of  traders  there  will  always  be 
too  many,  though  none  should  ever  be  able  to  borrow  a 
dollar.)  But  improvident  borrowing  and  lending  are 
among  our  most  prevalent  and  baneful  errors  ;  and  I 
would  gladly  conduce  to  their  reformation. 

"  I  hold  that  it  may  sometimes  be  a  duty  to  lend  ; 
and  yet  I  judge  that  at  least  nine  of  every  ten  loans 

18* 


210  LIFE  OF  HOBACE  GREELEY. 

to  the  needy  result  in  loss  to  the  lender,  with  no  sub- 
stantial benefit  to  the  borrower.  That  the  poor  often 
suffer  from  poverty  I  know,  but  oftener  from  lack  of 
capacity,  skill,  management,  efficiency,  than  lack  of 
money.  Here  is  an  empty-handed  youth  who  wants 
much,  and  must  have  it ;  but,  after  the  satisfaction  of 
his  most  urgent  needs,  he  wants,  above  all  things, 
ability  to  earn  money  and  take  good  care  of  it.  He 
thinks  his  first  want  is  a  loan  ;  but  that  is  a  great 
mistake.  He  is  far  more  certain  to  set  resolutely  to 
work  without  than  with  that  pleasant  but  baneful 
accommodation.  Make  up  a  square  issue,  '  Work  or 
starve,'  and  he  is  quite  likely  to  choose  work  ; 
while,  provided  he  can  borrow,  he  is  more  likely  to 
dip  into  some  sort  of  speculation  or  traffic.  That  he 
thus  almost  inevitably  fools  away  his  borrowed  money 
concerns  only  the  unwise  lender ;  that  he  is  thereby 
confirmed  in  his  aversion  to  work,  and  squander 
precious  time  that  should  fit  him  for  decided  useful- 
ness, is  of  wider  and  greater  consequence.  The 
widow,  the  orphan,  the  cripple,  the  invalid,  often  need 
alms,  and  should  have  them  ;  but  to  the  innumerable 
hosts  of  needy,  would-be  borrowers,  the  best  response 
is  Nature's, '  Root,  hog,  or  die  ! '  " 

The  writer  has  given  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Greeley 
on  this  every-day  subject  from  his  "  Recollections  of 


MB.  GEEELEY'S  BEGGARS  AND  BORROWERS.    211 

a  Busy  Life ; "  and  will  now  add,  that  he  has  had  some- 
what of  a  similar  experience,  and  would  advise  all  to 
make  it  a  general  rule  never  to  lend  or  borrow  money ; 
for  it  generally  leads  to  evil,  and  only  evil,  and  that 
continually. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

MB.    GREELEY   AND   SPIRITUALISM. 

Mr.  Greeley  discussed  Many  Subjects.  —  The  Rochester  Rappings.  —  He 
didn't  desire  a  Second  Sitting.  —  Interview  with  Jenny  Lind.  —  Seance 
at  Mr.  Greeley's  House.  —  He  witnesses  a  Juggle  or  Trick.  —  He  deals 
with  the  Trick.  —  He  thinks  the  Devil  would  not  be  engaged  in  such 
Business.  —  Found  he  could  spend  his  Time  more  Profitably.  —  Thinks 
we  had  better  do  our  Duty  to  the  Living.  —  Thinks  Great  Men  wrote 
Better  while  living  than  since  they  died.  —  Their  Communications 
Vague  and  Trivial.  —  Spirits  proved  to  be  Ignorant.  —  The  Great  Body 
of  Spiritualists  made  Worse  by  it.  —  Spiritualists  are  Bigots. 

MR".  GREELEY  has  been  accused  of  being 
versatile,  and  believing  many  things  which 
it  does  not  appear  from  his  writings  he  ever  did 
believe.  He  discussed  many  questions,  examined 
them,  and  wrote  of  them  in  "  The  Tribune  "  as  an 
editor  should,  if  he  would  make  a  useful  and  popular 
paper.  One  of  these  things  which  he  has  been 
reproached  as  believing  in  is  spiritualism ;  but  it  is 
very  clear  from  what  I  shall  quote  from  his  own  pen 
that  he  never  believed  in  these  vagaries  and  halluci- 
nations. The  very  term  by  which  he  heads  the  chao- 
212 


MB.   GREELEY  AND   SPIRITUALISM.  213 

ter  in  which  he  treats  of  this  subject,  glamour,  which 
means  "  witchery,"  or  "  charms,"  shows  that  he  had 
no  faith  in  "  spirit-rappings,"  or  in  "  spiritualism  " 
so  called.  The  following,  from  his  "  Recollections  of 
a  Busy  Life,"  is  his  account  of  this  matter  :  — 

"  I  believe  I  heard  vaguely  of  what  were  called 
'  the  Rochester  knockings '  soon  after  they  were 
first  proclaimed,  or  testified  to,  in  the  spring  of  1848 ; 
but  they  did  not  attract  my  attention  till,  during  a  brief 
absence  from  New  York,  —  perhaps  while  in  Congress, 
—  I  perused  a  connected  circumstantial  account  of  the 
alleged  phenomena,  signed  by  several  prominent  citizens 
of  Rochester,  and  communicated '  by  them  to  '  The 
Tribune,'  wherein  I  read  it.  It  made  little  impression 
on  my  mind  ;  though  I  never  had  that  repugnance  to, 
or  stubborn  incredulity  regarding,  occurrences  called 
supernatural,  which  is  evinced  by  many.  My  conscious- 
ness of  ignorance  of  the  extent  or  limitations  of  the 
natural  is  so  vivid,  that  I  never  could  realize  that 
difficulty  in  crediting  what  are  termed  miracles  which 
many  affirm.  Doubtless  the  first  person  who  observed 
the  attraction  of  iron  by  the  magnet  supposed  he  had 
stumbled  upon  a  contradiction  to  or  violation  of  the 
laws  of  Nature,  when  he  had  merely  enlarged  his  own 
acquaintance  with  natural  phenomena.  The  fly  that 
sees  a  rock  lifted  from  its  bed  may  fancy  himself  wit- 
ness of  a  miracle,  when  what  he  sees  is  merely  the 


214  LIFE  OF  HOKACB  GREELEY. 

interposition  of  a  power,  the  action  of  a  force,  which 
transcends  his  narrow  conceptions,  his  ephemeral  ex- 
perience. I  know  so  very  little  of  Nature,  that  I  cannot 
determine  at  a  glance  what  is  or  is  not  supernatural : 
but  I  know  that  things  do  occur  which  are  decidedly 
supemsual ;  and  I  rest  in  the  fact,  without  being  able, 
or  feeling  required,  to  explain  it. 

"  I  believe  that  it  was  early  in  1850  that  the  Fox 
family  —  in  which  the  so-called  '  knockings '  had  first 
occurred  or  been  noted,  first  at  the  little  hamlet  known 
as  Hydesville,  near  Newark,  Wayne  County,  N.Y.  — 
came  to  New  York,  and  stopped  at  a  hotel,  where  I 
called  upon  them,  and  heard  the  so-called  '  raps,'  but 
was  neither  edified  nor  enlightened  thereby.  Nothing 
transpired  beyond  the  '  rappings ; '  which,  even  if 
deemed  inexplicable,  did  not  much  interest  me.  In 
fact,  I  should  have  regretted  that  any  of  my  departed 
ones  had  been  impelled  to  address  me  in  the  presence 
and  hearing  of  the  motley  throng  of  strangers  gathered 
around  the  table  on  which  the  '  raps '  were  generally 
made. 

"  I  had  no  desire  for  a  second  '  sitting,'  and  might 
never  have  had  one  ;  but  my  wife  —  then  specially  and 
deeply  interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  unseen 
world,  because  of  the  recent  loss  of  our  darling 
*  Pickie  '  —  visited  the  Foxes  twice  or  thrice  at  their 
hotel,  and  invited  them  thence  to  spend  some  week  or 


MB.   GREELEY   AND   SPIRITUALISM..  215 

so  with  her  at  our  bouse.  There,  along  with  much 
that  seemed  trivial,  unsatisfactory,  and  unlike  what 
naturally  might  be  expected  from  the  land  of  souls,  I 
received  some  responses  to  my  questions  of  a  very 
remarkable  character,  evincing  knowledge  of  occur- 
rences of  which  no  one,  not  an  inmate  of  our  family  in 
former  years,  could  well  have  been  cognizant.  Most 
of  these  could  have  no  significance  or  cogency  to 
strangers ;  but  one  of  them  seems  worth  narrating. 

"  It  was  the  second  or  third  day  after  the  Foxes  came 
to  our  house.  I  had  worked  very  hard  and  late  at  the 
office  the  night  before,  reaching  home  after  all  others 
were  in  bed :  so  I  did  not  rise  till  all  had  had  breakfast 
and  had  gone  out,  my  wife  included.  When  I  rose  at 
last,  I  took  a  book,  and,  reading  on  a  lounge  in  our 
front-parlor,  soon  fell  into  an  imperfect  doze,  during 
which  there  called  a  Mrs.  Freeman,  termed  'a  clairvoy- 
ant,' from  Boston,  with  her  husband  and  an  invalid 
gentleman.  They  had  together  visited  Niagara  Falls  ; 
had  seen  the  Foxes  on  their  way  at  Rochester  ;  and 
now,  returning,  had  sought  them  at  their  hotel,  and 
followed  them  thence  to  our  house.  As  they  did  not 
inquire  for  me,  being  unaware  of  as  well  as  indifferent 
to  my  presence  in  the  house,  they  were  shown  into  the 
back-parlor,  separated  by  sliding-doors  from  that  in 
which  I  was ;  and  they  awaited  the  return  of  the  Foxes 
to  accompany  them  to  their  hotel,  saying,  *  We  feel 


216  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

like  intruders  here.'  This  impelled  me  to  rise  and  go 
into  the  back-parlor  in  order  to  make  the  strangers 
welcome.  Mrs.  Freeman  had  been  already,  or  was 
soon  afterward,  magnetized  by  her  husband  into  the 
state  termed  '  clairvoyance,'  wherein  she  professed  to 
see  spirits  related  to  those  who  were  put  into  magnet- 
ic rapport  with  her.  What  she  reported  as  of  or  from 
those  spirits  might  be  ever  so  true  or  false  for  aught  I 
know.  At  length  —  merely  to  make  the  strangers 
feel  more  at  their  ease  —  I  said,  '  Mr.  Freeman,  may 
not  I  be  put  into  communication  with  spirits  through 
Mrs.  Freeman  ?  '  to  which  he  readily  assented,  placed 
my  hand  in  hers,  made  a  few  passes,  and  bade  me  ask 
such  questions  as  I  would.  As  she  had  just  reported 
the  presence  of  spirit  brothers  and  sisters  of  others,  I 
asked  Mrs.  Freeman, '  Do  you  see  any  brothers  or  sis- 
ters of  mine  in  the  spirit-world  ?'  She  gazed  a  minute 
intently,  then  responded,  '  Yes,  there  is  one  ;  his  name 
is  Horace;'  and  then  proceeded  to  describe  a  child 
quite  circumstantially.  I  made  no  remark  when  she 
had  concluded  ;  though  it  seemed  to  me  a  very  wild 
guess,  even  had  she  known  that  I  had  barely  one  de- 
parted brother,  that  his  name  was  identical  with  my 
own ;  though  such  was  the  fact.  I  resumed :  '  Mrs. 
Freeman,  do  you  see  any  more  brothers  or  sisters  of 
mine  in  the  spirit-world  ? '  She  looked  again  as 
before ;  then  eagerly  said,  *  Yes,  there  is  another :  her 


MB.   GBEELEY  AND   SPIRITUALISM.  217 

name  is  Anna  —  no,  her  name  is  Almira  —  no  (per- 
plexedly), I  cannot  get  the  name  exactly;  yet  it 
begins  with  A.'  Now,  the  only  sister  I  ever  lost  was 
named  Arminda;  and  she,  as  well  as  my  brother,  died 
before  I  was  born,  —  he  being  three  and  she  scarcely 
two  years  old.  They  were  buried  in  a  secluded  rural 
graveyard  in  Bedford,  N.H.,  about  sixty  years  ago  ; 
and  no  stone  marks  their  resting-place.  Even  my  wife 
did  not  know  their  names ;  and  certainly  no  one  else 
present  but  myself  did.  And,  if  Mrs.  Freeman  ob- 
tained one  of  these  names  from  my  mind  (as  one 
theory  affirms),  why  not  the  other  as  well  ?  since  each 
was  there  as  clearly  as  the  other. 

"  Not  long  after  this,  I  had  called  on  Mademoiselle 
Jenny  Lind,  then  a  new-comer  among  us,  and  was 
conversing  about  the  current  marvel  with  the  late 
N.  P.  Willis,  while  Mademoiselle  Lind  was  devoting 
herself  more  especially  to  some  other  callers.  Our 
conversation  caught  Mademoiselle  Lind's  ear,  and 
arrested  her  attention:  so,  after  making  some  in- 
quiries, she  asked  if  she  could  witness  the  so-called 
'  manifestations.' 

"  I  answered,  that  she  could  do  so  by  coming  to  my 
house  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  as  Katy  Fox  was  then 
staying  with  us.  She  assented,  and  a  time  was  fixed 
for  her  call ;  at  which  time  she  appeared  with  a 
considerable  retinue  of  total  strangers.  All  were 

19 


218  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

soon  seated  around  a  table,  and  the  '  rappings '  were 
soon  audible  and  abundant. 

" '  Take  your  hands  from  under  the  table  !  '  Ma- 
demoiselle Jenny  called  across  to  me  in  the  tone 
arid  manner  of  an  indifferently-bold  arch-duchess. 
1  What  ? '  I  asked,  not  distinctly  comprehending  her. 
'  Take  your  hands  from  under  the  table  ! '  she  im- 
periously repeated  ;  and  I  now  understood  that  she 
suspected  me  of  causing,  by  some  legerdemain,  the 
puzzling  concussions.  I  instantly  clasped  my  hands 
over  my  head,  and  there  kept  them  until  the  sit- 
ting closed,  as  it  did  very  soon.  I  need  hardly  add 
that  this  made  not  the  smallest  difference  with  the 
'  rappings  ; '  but  I  was  thoroughly  and  finally  cured 
of  any  desire  to  exhibit  or  commend  them  to 
strangers. 

"  Not  long  afterward,  I  witnessed  what  I  strongly 
suspected  to  be  a  juggle  or  trick  on  the  part  of  a 
'  medium,'  which  gave  me  a  disrelish  for  the  whole 
business,  and  I  have  seen  very  little  of  it  since.  I 
never  saw  a  '  spirit-hand,'  though  persons  in  whose 
veracity  I  have  full  confidence  assure  me  they  have 
done  so.  (I  do  not  say  that  they  were  or  were  not 
deluded  or  mistaken.)  But  I  have  sat  with  three 
others  around  a  small  table,  with  every  one  of  our 
eight  hands  lying  plainly,  palpably,  on  that  table,  and 
heard  rapid  writing  with  a  pencil  on  paper,  which, 


MB.   GREELEY  AND   SPIRITUALISM.  219 

perfectly  white,  we  had  just  previously  placed  under 
that  table  ;  and  have  the  next  minute  picked  up  that 
paper  with  a  sensible,  straightforward  message  of 
twenty  to  fifty  words  fairly  written  thereon.  I  do 
not  say  by  whom  or  by  what  said  message  was 
written ;  yet  I  am  quite  confident  that  none  of 
the  persons  present,  who  were  visible  to  mortal  eyes, 
wrote  it. 

"  And  here  let  me  deal  with  the  hypothesis  of 
jugglery,  knee-joint  rattling,  toe-cracking,  &c.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  pretended  '  mediums  '  have  often 
amazed  their  visitors  by  feats  of  jugglery  ;  indeed,  I 
am  confident  that  I  have  been  present  when  they  did 
so.  In  so  far  as  the  hypothesis  of  spirit-agency  rests 
on  the  integrity  of  the  '  mediums,'  I  cannot  deem  it 
established.  Most  of  them  are  persons  of  no  especial 
moral  elevation  ;  and  I  know  that  more  than  one  of 
them  has  endeavored  to  simulate  *  raps '  when  the 
genuine  could  not  be  evoked.  Let  us  assume,  then, 
that  the  '  raps'  prove  just  nothing  at  all  beyond  the 
bare  fact  that  sounds  have  been  produced  by  some 
agency  or  impulse  which  we  do  not  fully  understand, 
and  that  all  the  physical  phenomena  have  been,  or 
may  be,  simulated  or  paralleled  by  such  jugglers  as 
Houdin,  Blitz,  the  Fakir  of  Ava,  &c.  But  the  amaz- 
ing sleight-of-hand  of  these  accomplished  performers 
is  the  result  of  protracted,  laborious  training  by  pred- 


220  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

ecessors  nearly  or  quite  as  adroit  and  dexterous  as 
themselves  ;  while  the  '  mediums'  are  often  children 
of  tender  years,  who  had  no  such  training,  have  no 
special  dexterity,  and  some  of  whom  are  known  to  be 
awkward  and  clumsy  in  their  movements.  The 
jugglery  hypothesis  utterly  fails  to  account  for  occur- 
rences which  I  have  personally  witnessed,  to  say 
nothing  of  others." 

Mr.  Greeley  does  not  believe  that  "  spirit-rapping  " 
is  to  be  ascribed  to  demoniac  influence,  though  that 
might  account  for  some  of  these  phenomena.  As 
proof  of  these  views,  he  relates  the  following :  "  In 
the  township  of  Wayne,  Erie  County,  near  the  house 
of  my  father  and  brother,  there  lived  a  farmer,  well 
known  to  me,  named  King,  who  had  many  good  traits, 
and  one  bad  habit,  —  that  of  keeping  a  barrel  of 
whiskey  in  his  house,  and  dealing  out  the  villanous 
fluid  at  so  much  per  quart  or  pint  to  his  thirsty 
neighbors.  Having  recently  lost  a  beloved  daugh- 
ter, he  had  recourse  to  '  spiritualism,'  (abominable 
term  !)  and  received  many  messages  from  what  pur- 
ported to  be  his  lost  child,  one  or  more  of  which  in- 
sisted that  the  aforesaid  whiskey-barrel  must  be 
expelled  from  his  premises,  and  never  re-instated. 
So  said,  so  done,  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Now,  I  feel  confident  that  the  Devil  never 
sent  nor  dictated  that  message ;  for,  if  he  did,  his 


MB.   GREELEY  AND   SPIRITUALISM.  221 

character  has  been  grossly  belied,  and  his  biography 
ought  to  be  rewritten." 

Mr.  Greeley  thought  the  failures  of  the  "  mediums  " 
more  proof  of  spirits'  operations  than  their  success : 
for  he  says,  "  A  juggler  can  do  nearly  as  well  at  one 
time  as  another ;  but  I  have  known  the  most  eminent 
'  mediums '  spend  a  long  evening  in  trying  to  evoke 
the  '  spiritual  phenomena '  without  a  gleam  of  success. 
I  have  known  this  to  occur  when  they  were  particu- 
larly auxious  —  and  for  obviously  good  reasons  —  to 
astound  and  convince  those  who  were  present  and  ex- 
pectant; yet  not  even  the  faintest  'rap'  could  they 
scare  up.  Had  they  been  jugglers,  they  could  not  have 
failed  so  utterly,  ignominiously." 

Mr.  Greeley  found  he  could  spend  his  time  much 
more  profitably  than  in  investigating  this  folly.  Hence 
he  said,  "  To  sit  for  two  dreary,  mortal  hours  in  a 
darkened  room,  in  a  mixed  company,  waiting  for  some 
one's  disembodied  grandfather  or  aunt  to  tip  a  table 
or  rap  on  a  door,  is  dull  music  at  best ;  but  to  sit  in 
vain  is  disgusting." 

Just  so,  Horace :  you  talk  like  a  sensible  man  about 
this  disgusting  business ;  and  my  only  wonder  is  that 
you  did  not  keep  clear  of  such  terrestrial  nonsense  at 
first.  However,  your  conclusions  are  full  of  common 
sense  ;  which  are  these  :  — 

"  1.  Those  who  discharge  promptly  and  faithfully 

19* 


222  LIFE  OF  HOEACE  GREELEY. 

all  their  duties  to  those  who  '  still  live  '  in  the  flesh 
can  have  little  time  for  poking  and  peering  into  the 
life  beyond  the  grave. 

"  2.  Those  who  claim,  through  the  '  mediums,'  to  be 
Shakspeare,  Milton,  Byron,  &c.,  and  try  to  prove  it  by 
writing  poetry,  invariably  come  to  grief.  I  cannot 
recall  a  line  of  '  spiritual'  poetry  that  is  not  weak,  if 
not  execrable,  save  that  of  Rev.  Thomas  L.  Harris,  who 
is  a  poet  still  in  the  flesh.  After  his  death,  I  predict 
that  the  poetry  sent  us  as  his  will  be  much  worse  than 
he  ever  wrote  while  in  the  body.  Even  Tupper,  ap- 
palling as  is  the  prospect,  will  be  dribbling  worse 
rhymes  upon  us  after  death  than  even  he  perpetrated 
while  on  earth." 

Pretty  good,  Horace  ;  and  "  spiritualism,"  or  "  rap- 
pings,"  or  "jugglery,"  or  "  mediums,"  or  deteriorated 
sensualists  and  liberalists,  or  libertines,  are  welcome 
to  all  the  good  they  can  get  out  of  the  following,  with 
which  Mr.  Greeley  winds  up  his  views  of  this  delu- 
sion :  — 

"  3.  As  a  general  rule,  the  so-called  *  spiritual  com- 
munications'  are  vague,  unreal,  shadowy,  trivial. 
They  are  not  what  we  should  expect  our  departed 
friends  to  say  to  us.  I  never  could  feel  that  the  lost 
relative  or  friend  who  professed  to  be  addressing  me 
was  actually  present.  I  do  not  doubt  that  foolish, 
trifling  people  remain  so  (measurably)  after  they 


MB.   GREELEY  AND   SPIRITUALISM.  225 

have  passed  the  dark  river.  I  perceive  that  trivial 
questions  must  necessarily  invite  trivial  answers.  But, 
after  making  all  due  allowance,  I  insist  that  the 
'  spiritual '  literature  of  the  day,  in  so  far  as  it  pur- 
ports to  consist  of  communications  or  revelations  from 
the  future  life,  is  more  inane  and  trashy  than  it  could 
be  if  the  sages  and  heroes,  the  saints  and  poets,  of  by- 
gone days  were  really  speaking  to  us  through  these 
pretended  revelations. 

"  4.  Not  only  is  it  true  (as  we  should  in  any  case 
presume)  that  nearly  all  attempts  of  the  so-called 
'  mediums '  to  guide  speculators  as  to  events  yet 
future  have  proved  melancholy  failures ;  but  it  is  de- 
monstrated that  the  so-called  '  spirits '  are  often  igno- 
rant of  events  which  "have  already  transpired.  They 
did  not  help  fish  up  the  broken  Atlantic  Cable,  nor 
find  Sir  John  Franklin,  nor  dispel  the  mystery  which 
still  shrouds  the  fate  of  the  crew  and  passengers  of  the 
doomed  steamship  '  President ; '  and  so  of  a  thousand 
instances  wherein  their  presumed  knowledge  might 
have  been  of  use  to  us  darkly-seeing  mortals.  All 
that  we  have  learned  of  them  has  added  little  or 
nothing  to  our  knowledge,  unless  it  be  in  en- 
abling us  to  answer  with  more  confidence  that  old 
momentous  question,  '  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live 
again  ? ' 

"  5.  On  the  whole  (though  I  say  it  with  regret),  it 


224  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

seems  to  me  that  the  great  body  of  the  '  spiritualists ' 
have  not  been  rendered  better  men  and  women  — 
better  husbands,  wives,  parents,  children  —  by  their 
new  faith.  I  think  some  have  been  improved  by  it ; 
while  many  who  were  previously  good  are  good  still, 
and  some  have  morally  deteriorated.  I  judge  that 
laxer  notions  respecting  marriage,  divorce,  chastity, 
and  stern  morality  generally,  have  advanced  in  the 
wake  of  '  spiritualism ; '  and  while  I  am  fully  aware 
that  religious  mania,  so  called,  has  usually  a  purely 
material  origin,  so  that  revivals  have  often  been 
charged  with  making  persons  insane  whose  insanity 
took  its  hue  from  the  topic  of  the  hour,  but  owed  its 
existence  to  purely  physical  causes,  I  still  judge  that 
the  aggregate  of  both  insanity  and  suicide  has  been 
increased  by  '  spiritualism.' 

"  6.  I  do  not  know  that  these  '  communications ' 
made  through  '  mediums  '  proceed  from  those  who  are 
said  to  be  their  authors,  nor  from  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted at  all.  Certain  developments  strongly  indicate 
that  they  do;  others  that  they  do  not.  We  know 
that  they  say  they  do ;  which  is  evidence  so  far  as  it 
goes,  and  is  not  directly  contradicted  or  rebutted. 
That  some  of  them  are  the  result  of  juggle,  collusion, 
or  trick,  I  am  confident ;  that  others  are  not,  I  de- 
cidedly believe.  The  only  certain  conclusion  in  the 
premises  to  which  my  mind  has  been  led  is  forcibly 


ME.   GREELEY  AND  SPIRITUALISM.  225 

set  forth  by  Shakspeare  in  the  words  of  the  Danish 
prince :  — 

'  There  are  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth,  Horatio, 
Than  are  dreamt  of  in  your  philosophy.' 

"  7.  I  find  my  '  spiritual '  friends  nowise  less  bigoted, 
less  intolerant,  than  the  devotees  at  other  shrines. 
They  do  not  allow  me  to  see  through  my  own  eyes,  but 
insist  that  I  shall  see  through  theirs.  If  my  conclu- 
sion from  certain  data  differs  from  theirs,  they  will  not 
allow  my  stupidity  to  account  for  our  difference,  but 
insist  on  attributing  it  to  hypocrisy,  or  some  other 
form  of  rascality.  I  cannot  reconcile  this  harsh  judg- 
ment with  their  professions  of  liberality,  their  talk  of 
philosophy ;  but,  if  I  speak  at  all,  I  must  report  what 
I  see  and  hear." 

Mr.  Greeley,  among  other  things  said  not  to  his 
credit,  has  been  charged  with  being  a  "  spiritualist." 
How  any  one  could  bring  such  a  charge  against  him, 
with  the  above-made  statements  from  his  own  pen,  is 
more  than  I  am  able  to  comprehend  ;  and  I  fancy 
there  would  not  be  much  dependence  placed  upon 
these  "  rappings "  if  everybody  rapped  them  as  he 
has. 


CHAPTER    XIY. 

LIBELS   AND   LIBEL-SUITS. 

These  Suits  Numerous.  —  J.  Fenimore  Cooper's  Character  valued  at  Two 
Hundred  Dollars.  —  His  Nephew  and  himself  the  Lawyers.  —  Horace  his 
own  Lawyer.  —  Horace  not  allowed  to  plead  his  own  Case  and  to  have 
Counsel ;  but  Cooper  is  allowed  to.  —  Injustice  and  Absurdity  of  the  Law 
of  Libel  in  the  State  of  New  York.  —  The  Whig  Editors  only  prosecuted. 
—  Editors  do  not  claim  Immunity  to  Libels.  —  Mr.  Greeley's  Logic. — 
Base  Fellows.  —  New- York  Laws  Worse  than  English.  The  Greater  the 
Truth  stated,  the  Greater  the  Libel.  —  Mr.  Greeley  did  Much  for  live 
Press  in  this  Case.  —  Wonderful  Rapidity  of  Writing.  —  The  Judge's 
Charge  Worse  than  Cooper's  Plea.  —  Mr.  Greeley  gives  a  most  Humor- 
ous Turn  to  this  Whole  Libel-Business.  —  His  Defence  resulted  in  Good. 

ALMOST  every  editor  of  a  daily  newspaper  has 
had  a  large  experience  in  the  items  which  are 
placed  at  the  head  of  this  chapter.  They  are  a  com- 
mon nuisance,  and,  though  sometimes  justifiable, 
generally  most  unjust  and  scandalous.  Hence  Mr. 
Greeley,  in  his  "  Recollections,"  well  says,  — 

"  Editorial  life  has  many  cares,  sundry  enjoyments, 
with  certain  annoyances  ;  and  prominent  among  these 
last  are  libel-suits.  I  can  hardly  remember  a  time 

• 

when  I  was  absolutely  exempt  from  these  infestations. 

226 


LIBELS   AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  227 

Iii  fact,  as  they  seem  to  be  a  main  reliance  for  support 
of  certain  attorneys  destitute  alike  of  character  and 
law,  I  suppose  they  must  be  borne  for  an  indefinite 
period.  The  fact  that  these  suits  are  far  more  com- 
mon in  our  State  than  elsewhere  cannot  have  escaped 
notice ;  and  I  find  the  reason  of  that  fact  in  a  per- 
version of  the  law  by  our  judges  of  thirty  to  fifty 
years  ago. 

"  The  first  notable  instance  of  this  perversion  oc- 
curred in  the  trial  of  Root  vs.  King,  at  Delhi,  about 
1826.  Gen.  Erastus  Root  was  a  leading  Democrat 
through  the  earliest  third  of  this  century  ;  and  was,  in 
1824,  a  zealous  supporter  of  William  H.  Crawford  for 
president.  As  president  of  the  Senate,  he  presided 
at  the  joint  meeting  of  the  two  Houses  wherein  elect- 
ors of  president  were  chosen ;  when,  to  his  and  his 
friends'  sore  disappointment,  a  large  number  of 
Adams  and  but  few  Crawford  men  received  the 
requisite  majority,  the  friends  of  Adams  and  those 
of  Clay  having  privately  united  on  a  common  ticket. 
When  the  votes  for  this  ticket  began  to  be  counted 
out,  presaging  a  Crawford  defeat,  Gen.  Root  at- 
tempted to  break  up  the  joint  meeting,  and  thus 
invalidate  the  election.  For  this  and  other  such 
acts  he  was  severely  handled  by  '  The  New- York 
American ;  *  whose  editor,  Charles  King,  was  there- 
upon sued  by  Root  for  libel ;  and  the  case  being  tried 


228  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

at  Delhi,  where  Root  resided  and  was  lord  paramount, 
the  jury,  under  the  rulings  of  a  Democratic  judge, 
gave  the  plaintiff  fourteen  hundred  dollars  damages. 
It  was  a  most  unjust  verdict,  based  on  a  perversion 
of  the  law,  which,  if  sustained,  left  the  press  no 
substantial  liberty  to  rebuke  wrong-doing  or  chastise 
offenders  ;  and  the  perversion  of  justice  thus  effected 
naturally  led  to  still  further  and  worse  aberrations. 

"  Ten  or  a  dozen  years  afterward,  Mr.  J.  Fenimore 
Cooper  returned  from  a  long  residence  abroad,  during 
which  many  of  his  novels  had  been  written.  A  man 
of  unquestioned  talent,  —  almost  genius,  —  he  was 
aristocratic  in  feeling,  and  arrogant  in  bearing,  alto- 
gether combining  in  his  manners  what  a  Yankee  once 
characterized  as  '  winning  ways  to  make  people  hate 
him.'  Retiring  to  his  paternal  acres  near  Coopers- 
town,  N.Y.,  he  was  soon  involved  in  a  difficulty  with 
the  neighboring  villagers,  who  had  long  been  accus- 
tomed, in  their  boating  -  excursions  on  the  lake 
(Otsego),  to  land  and  make  themselves  at  home  for  an 
hour  or  two  on  a  long,  narrow  promontory  or  '  point ' 
that  ran  down  from  his  grounds  into  the  lake,  and 
whom  he  had  now  dissuaded  from  so  doing  by  legal 
force.  The  Whig  newspaper  of  the  village  took  up 
the  case  for  the  villagers ;  urging  that  their  extrusion 
from  '  the  point,'  though  legal,  was  churlish,  and  im- 
pelled by  the  spirit  of  the  dog  in  the  manger:  where- 


LIBELS  AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  229 

upon  Cooper  sued  the  editor  for  libel,  recovered  a 
verdict,  and  collected  it  by  taking  the  money  — 
through  a  sheriff's  officer  —  from  the  editor's  trunk. 
By  this  time  several  Whig  journalists  had  taken  up 
the  cudgels  for  the  villagers  and  their  brother-editor ; 
and  as  Mr.  Cooper  had  recently  published  two  caustic, 
uncomplimentary,  self-complacent  works  on  his  coun- 
trymen's ways  and  manners,  entitled  '  Homeward 
Bound,'  and  '  Home  as  Found,'  some  of  these  casti- 
gations  took  the  form  of  reviews  of  those  works.  One 
or  more  appeared  in  '  The  Courier  and  Enquirer,' 
edited  by  James  Watson  Webb  ;  at  least  one  other  in 
'  The  Commercial  Advertiser,'  edited  by  William  L. 
Stone  ;  while  several  racy  paragraphs,  unflattering  to 
Mr.  Cooper,  spiced  the  editorial  columns  of  '  The 
Albany  Evening  Journal,'  and  were  doubtless  from 
the  pen  of  its  founder  and  then  editor,  Mr.  Thurlow 
Weed.  Cooper  sued  them  all ;  bringing  several 
actions  to  trial  at  Fonda,  the  new  county-seat  of  Mont- 
gomery County.  He  had  no  luck  against  Col. 
Webb,  because,  presuming  that  gentleman  moneyless, 
he  prosecuted  him  criminally,  and  could  never  find  a 
jury  to  send  an  editor  to  prison  on  his  account.  Col. 
Webb  was  defended  in  chief  by  Ambrose  L.  Jordan, 
afterwards  attorney-general  of  the  State,  an  able  and 
zealous  advocate,  who  threw  his  whole  soul  into  his 
cases,  and  who  did  by  no  means  stand  on  the  defensive. 
20 


230  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GREELEY. 

"  111  one  of  his  actions  against  Mr.  Weed  he  was 
more  fortunate.  Weed  had  not  given  it  proper  atten- 
tion ;  and,  when  the  case  was  called  for  trial  at  Fonda, 
he  was  detained  at  home  by  sickness  in  his  family, 
and  no  one  appeared  for  him  :  so  a  verdict  of  four 
hundred  dollars  was  entered  up  against  him  by 
default.  He  was  on  hand  a  few  hours  afterward,  and 
tried  to  have  the  case  re-opened  ;  but  Cooper  would 
not  consent :  so  Weed  had  to  pay  the  four  hundred 
dollars  and  costs.  Deeming  himself  aggrieved,  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  '  The  Tribune,'  describing  the 
whole  performance  ;  and  on  that  letter  Cooper  sued 
me  as  for  another  libel. 

"  The  first  writ  wherewith  I  was  honored  by  the 
author  of  'The  Pioneers,'  <fec.,  cited  me  to  answer  at 
Ballston,  Saratoga  County,  on  the  first  Tuesday  (I 
believe)  in  December,  1842  ;  and  I  obeyed  it  to  the 
letter.  I  employed  no  lawyers,  not  realizing  that  I 
needed  any.  In  its  turn,  the  case  was  called,  and 
opened  in  due  form  by  Richard  Cooper  (nephew 
of  Fenimore)  for  the  plaintiff.  No  witnesses  were 
called  ;  for  none  were  needed.  I  admitted  the  publi- 
cation, and  accepted  the  responsibility  thereof:  so  the 
questions  to  be  tried  were  these  :  '  Was  the  plaintiff 
libelled  by  such  publication  ?  If  so,  to  what  amount 
was  he  damaged  ? '  When  Richard  had  concluded,  I 
said  all  that  I  deemed  necessary  For  the  defence ;  and 


LIBELS   AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  231 

then  Fenimore  summed  up  his  own  cause  in  a  longer 
and  rather  stronger  speech  than  Richard's,  and  the 
case  was  closed.  So  far,  I  felt  quite  at  my  ease  :  but 
now  the  presiding  judge  (Willard)  rose,  and  made  a 
harder,  more  elaborate,  and  disengenuous  speech 
against  me  than  either  Richard  or  Fenimore  had 
done ;  making  three  against  one,  which  I  did  not 
think  quite  fair.  He  absolutely  bullied  the  jury  on 
the  presumption  that  they  were  inclined  to  give  a 
verdict  for  the  defendant,  which  he  told  them  they 
were  nowise  at  liberty  to  do.  I  had  never  till  that 
day  seen  one  of  them,  and  had  never  sought  to  effect 
any  intimacy  or  understanding  with  them  :  so  I  must 
say  that  the  judge's  charge  seemed  to  me  as  unfair  as 
possible.  The  jury  retired  at  its  close,  and,  on  ballot- 
ing, seven  of  them  voted  to  make  me  pay  a  hundred 
dollars,  two  voted  for  five  hundred  -dollars,  one  for 
ten  hundred  dollars,  and  two  for  nothing  at  all,  or 
very  nearly  so.  They  soon  agreed  to  call  it  two 
hundred  dollars,  and  make  it  their  verdict ;  which 
they  did.  When  all  the  costs  were  paid,  I  was  just 
three  hundred  dollars  out  of  pocket  by  that  lawsuit. 
I  have  done  better  and  worse  in  other  cases  ;  but 
having  been  most  ably  and  successfully  defended  in 
several,  maugre  the  proverb  that '  He  who  pleads  his 
own  cause  has  a  fool  for  a  client,'  I  am  satisfied,  that 
could  I  have  found  time,  in  every  case  wherein  I  was 


232  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

sued  for  libel,  to  attend  in  person,  and  simply,  briefly 
state  the  material  facts  to  the  jury,  I  should  have  had 
less  to  pay  than  I  have  done.  There  is  always  danger 
that  the  real  merits  of  your  case  will  be  buried  out 
of  sight  under  heaps  of  legal  rubbish.  But  it  is  not 
possible  for  a  business-man  to  spend  his  whole  life  in 
court-rooms,  waiting  for  his  case  to  be  called ;  and  I 
have  often  been  sued  in  distant  counties,  where  I 
could  scarcely  attend  at  all. 

"  I  left  Ballston  in  a  sleigh  directly  upon  the  render- 
ing of  the  verdict ;  caught  a  steamboat,  I  think,  at 
Troy  ;  and  was  at  my  desk  in  good  season  next  morn- 
ing :  so  that,  by  eleven,  P.M.,  I  had  written  out  and 
read  in  proof,  besides  other  matter,  my  report  of  the 
trial,  which  filled  eleven  columns  of  the  next  morn- 
ing's '  Tribune.'  I  think  that  was  the  best  single  day's 
work  I  ever  did.  I  intended  that  the  report  should 
be  good-natured,  perhaps  even*  humorous;  and  some 
thought  I  succeeded.  But  Fenimore  seems  not  to 
have  concurred  in  that  opinion  ;  for  he  sued  me 
upon  the  report  as  a  new  libel,  or  rather  as  several 
libels.  I  was  defended  against  this  new  suit  by  Hoiis. 
William  H.  Seward  and  A.  B.  Conger,  so  cleverly,  that 
though  there  were  hearings  on  demurrer,  and  various 
expensive  interlocutory  proceedings,  the  case  never 
came  to  trial.  Indeed,  the  legislature  had  meantime 
overborne  some  of  the  more  irrational  rulings  of  our 


LIBELS  AND  LIBEL-SUITS.  233 

judges;  while  our  judiciary  itself  had  undergone 
important  changes  through  the  political  revolution  in 
our  State,  and  the  influence  of  our  Constitution  of 
1846 :  so  that  the  press  of  New  York  now  enjoys  a 
freedom  which  it  did  not  in  the  last  generation. 

"  I  say,  the  press  ;  yet  only  the  journals  of  one 
party  were  judicially  muzzled.  Rather  more  than 
forty  years  ago,  Mr.  Weed,  then  living  at  Rochester, 
was  positively  and  generally  charged  through  the 
Democratic  journals  with  having  shaved  off  or  pulled 
out  the  whiskers  of  a  dead  man  in  order  to  make 
the  body  pass  for  that  of  the  long-missing,  never- 
recovered  William  Morgan,  of  anti-Masonic  fame. 
»The  charge  was  an  utterly  groundless  calumny, 
having  barely  a  shred  of  badinage  to  palliate  its 
utterance.  Mr.  Weed  sued  two  or  three  of  his  de- 
famers ;  but  the  courts  were  in  the  hands  of  his 
political  adversaries,  and  he  could  never  succeed  in 
bringing  his  cases  to  trial.  Finally,  after  they  had 
been  kicked  and  cuffed  about  for  ten  or  a  dozen  years, 
they  were  kicked  out,  as  too  ancient  and  fish-like  to 
receive  attention. 

"  This  was,  probably,  the  best  disposition  for  him 
that  could  have  been  made  of  them.  If  he  had  tried 
them,  and  recovered  nominal  verdicts,  his  enemies 
would  have  shouted  over  those  verdicts  as  virtually 
establishing  the  truth  of  their  charges  ;  while,  if  he 

20» 


234  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GBEELEY. 

had  been  awarded  exemplary  damages,  these  would 
have  been  cited  as  measuring  the  damages  to  be  given 
against  him. 

"  This  consideration  was  forcibly  brought  home  to 
me  when,  years  afterward,  having  been  outrageously 
libelled  with  regard  to  a  sum  of  a  thousand  dollars, 
which  it  was  broadly  intimated  that  a  railroad  or 
canal  company  in  Iowa  had  given  me  for  services 
rendered,  or  to  be  rendered,  I  ordered  suits  commenced 
against  two  of  the  most  reckless  libellers.  But,  when 
time  had  been  allowed  for  reflection,  I  perceived  that 
I  could  afford  neither  to  lose  nor  to  win  these  suits  ; 
that  such  verdicts  as  I  ought  to  recover  would  be  cited 
as  measuring  the  damages  that  I  ought  to  pay  in  all 
future  libel-suits  brought  against  me  :  so  I  gladly 
accepted  such  retractions  as  my  libellers  saw  fit  to 
make,  and  discontinued  my  suits.  Henceforth,  that 
man  must  very  badly  want  to  be  sued  who  provokes 
me  to  sue  him  for  libel." 

Mr.  Greeley  further  adds,  — 

"  I  have  often  heard  it  asserted  from  the  bench  that 
editors  claim  impunity  to  libel ;  which  is  not  the 
truth.  What  I  claim  and  insist  on  is  just  this  :  That 
the  editor  shall  be  protected  by  the  nature  and  exigencies 
of  his  calling  to  the  same  extent,  and  in  the  same  degree, 
that  other  men  are  protected  by  the  exigencies,  the  require- 
ments, of  THEIR  callings  or  positions  respectively. 


LIBELS  AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  235 

"  For  instance  :  A  judge  on  the  bench,  a  lawyer  at 
the  bar,  may  libel  atrociously,  and,  I  hold,  may  be 
fairly  held  responsible  for  such  libel ;  but  the  law  will 
not  presume  him  a  libeller  from  the  mere  fact  that  he 
speaks  disparagingly  of  some  person  or  persons.  A 
householder  applied  to  for  the  character  of  his  late 
servant  may  respond :  '  I  turned  him  off  because  I 
found  him  an  eye-servant,  a  drunkard,  and  a  thief: ' 
yet  the  law  will  presume  no  malice  not  specifically 
proven  ;  because  it  avers,  that,  in  giving  his  ex-servant's 
character,  that  householder  was  acting  in  the  line  of 
his  duty.  Had  he  posted  up  those  precise  words  in  a 
public  place,  the  law  would  have  presumed  malice, 
because  no  duty  required  such  posting. 

"  Now,  let  us  apply  the  principle  above  enunciated 
to  the  actual  case  in  hand.  Jefferson  Jones  posts  up 
in  a  bar-room,  livery-stable,  or  on  the  town-pump,  these 
words :  '  Clifford  Nokes  was  last  night  caught  stealing 
a  hog,  and  was  committed  by  Justice  Smith  to  await 
indictment  and  trial.'  The  law  will  presume  that 
posting  malicious,  and  will  deal  harshly  with  Jones  if 
he  should  fail  to  prove  it  literally  true.  And  why  ? 
Clearly  because  no  duty  required  him  to  make  any 
such  proclamation  of  his  neighbor's  alleged  frailty ; 
because  of  the  fair  natural  presumption  that  he  was 
moved  so  to  post  by  hate  or  malevolence.  But  that 
same  paragraph  might  appear  in  the  columns  of  any 


236  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

journal  that  habitually  printed  police  intelligence, 
without  justifying  or  rendering  plausible  a  kindred 
presumption.  It  might,  indeed,  be  proved  that  the 
editor  had  inserted  the  item  with  malicious  intent  to 
injure  Nokes  ;  and  then  I  say,  '  Punish  the  libeller 
to  the  extent  of  tho  law.'  But  I  protest  against 
presuming  an  editor  a  libeller,  because  in  the  routine 
of  his  vocation,  the  line  of  his  duty,  he  prints  informa- 
tion which  may  prove  inaccurate  or  wholly  erroneous, 
without  fairly  exposing  him  to  the  presumption  that 
he  was  impelled  to  utter  it  by  a  malevolent  spirit,  a 
purpose  to  injure  or  degrade.  Am  I  understood  ? 

"  Twice  in  the  course  of  my  thirty  odd  years  of 
editorship  I  have  encountered  human  beings  base 
enough  to  require  me  to  correct  a  damaging  statement, 
and,  after  I  had  done  so  to  the  extent  of  their  desire, 
to  sue  me  upon  that  retracted  statement  as  a  libel ! 
I  think  this  proves  more  than  the  depravity  of  the 
persons  implicated  ;  that  it  indicates  a  glaring  defect 
in  the  law  or  the  ruling  under  which  such  a  manoeuvre 
is  possible.  If  the  law  were  honest,  or  merely  decent, 
it  would  refuse  to  be  made  an  accomplice  of  such 
villany." 

The  matter  alleged  to  be  libellous  was  printed  in 
"  The  Tribune,"  Nov.  17,  1841.  The  trial  was  held 
at  Saratoga.  Mr.  Greeley  defended  himself,  and  gives 
the  following  account  of  the  trial :  — 


LIBELS  AND   LIBEL-STJITS.  237 

"  The  responsible  editor  of  '  The  Tribune '  returned 
yesterday  morning  from  a  week's  journey  to  and  so- 
journ in  the  county  of  Saratoga  ;  having  been  thereto 
urgently  persuaded  by  a  supreme-court  writ,  requiring 
him  to  answer  to  the  declaration  of  Mr.  J.  Fenimore 
Cooper  in  an  action  for  libel. 

"  This  suit  was  originally  to  have  been  tried  at  the 
May  circuit  at  Ballston  ;  but  neither  Fenimore  (who 
was  then  engaged  in  the  Coopering  of  Col.  Stone  of 
'  The  Commercial '  )  nor  we  had  time  to  attend  to  it : 
so  it  went  over  to  this  term,  which  opened  at  Ballston 
Spa  on  Monday,  Dec.  5.  We  arrived  on  the  ground 
at  eleven  o'clock  of  that  day,  and  found  the  plaintiff 
and  his  lawyers  ready  for  us,  our  case  No.  10  on  the 
calendar,  and  of  course  a  good  prospect  of  an  early 
trial.  But  an  important  case  involving  water-rights 
came  in  ahead  of  us  (No.  8),  taking  two  days;  and  it 
was  half-past  ten,  A.M.,  of  Friday,  before  ours  was 
reached,  —  very  fortunately  for  us,  as  we  had  no  law- 
yer, had  never  talked  over  the  case  with  one,  or  made 
any  preparation  whatever,  save  in  thought ;  and  had 
not  even  found  time  to  read  the  papers  pertaining  to 
it  till  we  arrived  at  Ballston. 

"  The  delay  in  reaching  the  case  gave  us  time  for  all ; 
and  that  we  did  not  employ  lawyers  to  aid  in  our  con- 
duct or  defence  proceeded  from  no  want  of  confidence 
in  or  deference  to  the  many  eminent  members  of  the 


238  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GREELEY. 

bar  there  in  attendance  besides  Mr.  Cooper's  three 
able  counsel,  but  simply  from  the  fact  that  we  wished 
to  present  to  the  court  some  considerations  which  we 
thought  had  been  overlooked  or  overborne  in  the  re- 
cent trials  of  the  press  for  libel  before  our  supreme 
and  circuit  courts,  and  which,  since  they  appealed 
more  directly  and  forcibly  to  the  experience  of  editors 
than  of  lawyers,  we  presumed  an  ordinary  editor 
might  present  as  plainly  and  fully  as  an  able  lawyer. 
We  wished  to  place  before  the  court  and  the  country 
those  views  which  we  understand  the  press  to  maintain 
with  us  of  its  own  position,  duties,  responsibilities,  and 
rights,  as  affected  by  the  practical  construction  given 
of  late  years  in  this  State  to  the  law  of  libel,  and  its 
application  to  editors  and  journals.  Understanding 
that  we  could  not  appear  both  in  person  and  by 
counsel,  we  chose  the  former ;  though,  on  trial,  we 
found  our  opponent  was  permitted  to  do  what  we  sup- 
posed we  could  not.  So  much  by  way  of  explanation 
to  the  many  able  and  worthy  lawyers  in  attendance  on 
the  circuit,  from  whom  we  received  every  kindness  ; 
who  would  doubtless  have  aided  us  most  cheerfully  if 
we  had  required  it,  and  would  have  conducted  our 
case  far  more  skilfully  than  we  either  expected  or 
cared  to  do.  We  had  not  appeared  there  to  be  saved 
from  a  verdict  by  any  nice  technicality  or  legal  subtlety. 
"  The  case  was  opened  to  the  court  and  jury  by  Rich- 


LIBELS   AND  LIBEL-SUITS.  239 

ard  Cooper,  nephew  and  attorney  of  the  plaintiff,  in  a 
speech  of  decided  pertinence  and  force.  Mr.  Richard 
Cooper  has  had  much  experience  in  this  class  of  cases, 
and  is  a  young  man  of  considerable  talent.  His  man- 
ner is  the  only  fault  about  him,  being  too  elaborate 
and  pompous,  and  his  diction  too  bombastic  to  produce 
the  best  effect  on  an  unsophisticated  auditory.  If  he 
will  only  contrive  to  correct  this,  he  will  yet  make  a 
figure  at  the  bar ;  or  rather  he  will  make  loss  figure, 
and  do  more  execution.  The  force  of  his  speech  was 
marred  by  Fenimore's  continually  interrupting  to  dic- 
tate and  suggest  to  him  ideas,  when  he  would  have 
done  much  better  if  left  alone.  For  instance :  Feni- 
more  instructed  him  to  say  that  our  letter  from  Fonda, 
above  recited,  purported  to  be  from  the  '  correspond- 
ent of"  The  Tribune,"  '  and  thence  to  draw  and  press 
on  the  jury  the  inference  that  the  letter  was  written 
by  some  of  our  own  corps  whom  we  had  sent  to 
Fonda  to  report  these  trials.  This  inference  we  were 
obliged  to  repel  in  our  reply,  by  showing  that  the 
article  plainly  read  *  Correspondence  of  "  The  Trib- 
une," '  just  as  when  a  fire,  a  storm,  or  some  other 
notable  event,  occurs  in  any  part  of  the  country  or 
world,  and  a  friend  who  happens  to  be  there  sits 
down  and  despatches  us  a  letter  by  the  first  mail  to 
give  us  early  advices,  though  he  has  no  connection 
with  us  but  by  subscription  and  good-will,  and  perhaps 
never  wrote  a  line  to  us  in  his  life  till  now. 


240  LIFE  OF  HOBACB   GREELEY. 

"  The  next  step  in  Mr.  Richard  Cooper's  opening,  we 
had,  to  the  declaration  against  us,  pleaded  the  general 
issue,  —  that  is,  not  guilty  of  libelling  Mr.  Cooper  ;  at 
the  same  time  fully  admitting  that  we  had  published 
all  that  he  called  our  libels  on  him,  and  desiring  to 
put  in  issue  only  the  fact  of  their  being  or  not  being 
libels,  and  have  the  verdict  turn  on  that  issue.  But 
Mr.  Cooper  told  the  jury  (and  we  found,  to  our  cost, 
that  this  was  New- York  supreme  and  circuit  court 
law),  that,  by  pleading  not  guilty,  we  had  legally  admit- 
ted ourselves  to  be  guilty ;  that  all  that  was  necessary 
for  the  plaintiff  under  that  plea  was  to  put  in  our 
admission  of  publication,  and  then  the  jury  had 
nothing  to  do  but  to  assess  the  plaintiff's  damages 
under  the  direction  of  the  court.  In  short,  we  were 
made  to  understand  that  there  was  no  way  under 
heaven  —  we  beg  pardon  ;  under  New- York  supreme- 
court  law  —  in  which  the  editor  of  a  newspaper 
could  plead,  to  an  action  for  libel,  that  the  matter 
charged  upon  him  as  libellous  was  not  in  its  nature  or 
intent  a  libel,  but  simply  a  statement,  according  to 
the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief,  of  some  noto- 
rious and  every  way  public  transaction,  or  his  own 
honest  comments  thereon,  and  ask  the  jury  to  decide 
whether  the  plaintiff's  averment  or  his  answers 
thereto  be  the  truth  !  To  illustrate  the  beauties  of 
*  the  perfection  of  human  reason/  always  intending 


LIBELS   AND    LIBEL-SUITS.  241 

New- York  circuit  and  supreme  court  reason,  on  this 
subject,  and  to  show  the  perfect  soundness  and  per- 
tinence of  Mr.  Cooper's  logic  according  to  the  decis- 
ions of  these  courts,  we  will  give  an  example. 

"  Our  police-reporter,  say,  this  evening,  shall  hring 
in  on  his  chronicle  of  daily  occurrences  the  follow- 
ing:— 

"  '  A  hatchet-faced  chap  with  mouse-colored  whis- 
kers, who  gave  the  name  of  John  Smith,  was  brought 
in  by  a  watchman  who  found  him  lying  drunk  in  the 
gutter.  After  a  suitable  admonition  from  the  justice, 
and  on  payment  of  the  usual  fine,  he  was  discharged.' 

"  Now,  our  reporter,  who,  no  more  than  we,  ever 
before  heard  of  this  John  Smith,  is  only  ambitious  to 
do  his  duty  correctly  and  thoroughly,  to  make  his 
description  accurate  and  graphic,  and  perhaps  to  pro- 
tect better  men,  who  rejoice  in  the  cognomen  of  John 
Smith,  from  being  confounded  with  this  one  in  the 
popular  rumor  of  his  misadventure.  If  the  paragraph 
should  come  under  our  notice,  we  should  probably 
strike  it  out  altogether,  as  relating  to  a  subject  of  no 
public  moment,  and  likely  to  crowd  out  better  matter. 
But  we  do  not  see  it ;  and  in  it  goes.  Well,  John 
Smith,  who  'acknowledges  the  corn'  as  to  being 
accidentally  drunk  and  getting  into  a  watch-house,  is 
not  willing  to  rest  under  the  imputation  of  being 
'  hatchet-faced '  and  having  '  mouse-colored  whiskers,' 
21 


242  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GKEELEY. 

retains  Mr.  Richard  Cooper, — for  he  could  not  do  bet- 
ter,—  and  commences  an  action  for  libel  against  us. 
We  take  the  best  legal  advice,  and  are  told  that  we 
must  demur  to  the  declaration  ;  that  is,  go  before  a 
court  without  a  jury,  where  no  facts  can  be  shown, 
and  maintain  that  the  matter  charged  as  uttered  by 
us  is  not  libellous.  But  Mr.  Richard  Cooper  meets  us 
there,  and  says  justly,  '  How  is  the  court  to  decide, 
without  evidence,  that  this  matter  is  not  libellous  ?  If 
it  was  written  and  inserted  for  tbe  express  purpose  of 
ridiculing  and  bringing  into  contempt  my  client,  it 
clearly  is  libellous.  And  then  as  to  damages:  my 
client  is  neither  rich  nor  a  great  man  ;  but  his  char- 
acter in  his  own  circle  is  both  dear  and  valuable  to 
him.  We  shall  be  able  to  show  on  trial  that  he  was 
on  the  point  of  contracting  marriage  with  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  keeper  of  the  most  fashionable  and  lucra- 
tive oyster-cellar  in  Orange  Street,  whose  nerves  were 
so  shocked  at  the  idea  of  her  intended  having  a 
"  hatchet-face  and  mouse-colored  whiskers,"  that  she 
fainted  outright  on  reading  the  paragraph  (copied 
from  yoiir  paper  into  the  next  day's  "  Sun  "),  and  was 
not  brought  to  until  a  whole  bucket  of  oysters  which 
she  had  just  opened  had  been  poured  over  her  in  a 
hurried  mistake  for  water.  Since  then,  she  has 
frequent  relapses  and  shuddering,  especially  when  my 
client's  name  is  mentioned,  and  utterly  refuses  to  see 


LIBELS   AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  243 

or  speak  to  him.  The  match  is  dead  broke  ;  and  my 
client  loses  thereby  a  capital  home,  where  victuals 
are  more  plentiful  and  the  supply  more  steady  than  it 
has  been  his  fortune  to  find  them  for  the  last  year  or 
two.  He  loses  with  all  this  a  prospective  interest  in 
the  concern  ;  and  is  left  utterly  without  business,  or 
means  of  support,  except  this  suit.  Besides,  how  can 
you  tell,  in  the  absence  of  all  testimony,  that  the 
editor  was  not  paid  to  insert  this  villanous  description 
of  my  client  by  some  envious  rival  for  the  affections 
of  the  oyster-maid,  who  calculates  both  to  gratify  his 
spite  and  advance  his  lately  hopeless  wooing  ?  In 
that  case  it  certainly  is  a  libel.  We  affirm  this  to  be 
the  case  ;  and  you  are  bound  to  presume  that  it  is. 
The  demurrer  must  be  overruled.'  And  so  it  must  be. 
No  judge  could  decide  otherwise. 

"  Now  we  are  thrown  back  upon  a  dilemma.  We 
may  plead  justification,  in  which  case  we  admit  that 
our  publication  was,  on  its  face,  a  libel ;  and  now  woe 
to  us  if  we  cannot  prove  Mr.  Cooper's  client's  face  as 
sharp,  and  his  whiskers  of  the  precise  color,  as  stated ! 
A  shade  more  or  less  ruins  us.  For,  be  it  known,  by 
attempting  a  jus ti frcation  we  have  not  merely  admitted 
our  offence  to  be  a  libel,  but  our  plea  is  an  aggravation 
of  the  libel,  and  entitles  the  plaintiff  to  recover  higher 
and  more  exemplary  damages.  We  have  just  one 
chance  more, —  to  plead  the  general  issue  ;  to  wit,  that 


244  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GREELEY. 

we  did  not  libel  the  said  John  Smith,  and  go  into  court 
prepared  to  show  that  we  had  no  malice  toward  or 
intent  to  injure  Mr.  Smith,  never  heard  of  him  before, 
and  have  done  all  we  know  how  to  make  him  repara- 
tion ;  in  short,  that  we  have  done  and  intended 
nothing  which  brings  us  fairly  within  the  iron  grasp 
of  the  law  of  libel.  But  here  again,  while  trying  our 
best  to  get  in  somehow  a  plea  of  not  guilty,  we  have 
actually  pleaded  guilty  (so  says  the  supreme-court 
law  of  New  York).  Our  admitted  publication  (no 
matter  of  what)  concerning  John  Smith  proves  irre- 
sistibly that  we  have  libelled  him.  We  are  not  entitled 
in  any  way  whatever  to  go  to  the  jury  with  evidence 
tending  to  show  that  our  publication  is  not  a  libel, 
or,  in  overthrow  of  the  legal  presumption  of  malice,  to 
show  that  there  actually  was  none.  All  that  we  possi- 
bly can  offer  must  be  taken  into  account  merely  in 
mitigation  of  damages.  Our  hide  is  on  the  fence,  you 
see,  anyhow. 

"But  to  return  to  Richard's  argument  at  Ballston. 
He  put  very  strongly  against  us  the  fact,  that  our 
Fonda  correspondent  (see  declaration  above)  consid- 
ered Fenimore's  verdict  there  a  meagre  one.  '  Gen- 
tlemen of  the  jury,'  said  he,  '  see  how  these  editors 
rejoice  and  exult  when  they  get  off  with  so  light  a 
verdict  as  four  hundred  dollars !  They  consider  it  a 
triumph  over  the  law  and  the  defendant.  They  don't 


LIBELS   AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  245 

\ 

consider  that  amount  any  thing.  If  you  mean  to 
vindicate  the  laws  and  the  character  of  my  client,  you 
see,  you  must  give  much  more  than  this.'  This  was 
a  good  point,  but  not  quite  fair.  The  exultation  over 
the  '  meagre  verdict '  was  expressly  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  cause  was  undefended;  that  Fenimore  and 
his  counsel  had  it  all  their  own  way, —  evidence,  ar- 
gument, charge,  and  all.  Still  Richard  had  a  good 
chance  here  to  appeal  for  a  large  verdict ;  and  he  did 
it  well. 

"  On  one  other  point  Richard  talked  more  like  a 
cheap  lawyer,  and  less  like  a  —  like  what  we  had 
expected  of  him,  than  through  the  general  course  of 
his  argument.  In  his  pleadings  he  had  set  forth 
Horace  Greeley  and  Thomas  McElrath  as  editors  and 
proprietors  of  '  The  Tribune ; '  and  we  readily  enough 
admitted  whatever  he  chose  to  assert  about  us,  except 
the  essential  thing  in  dispute  between  us.  Well,  on 
the  strength  of  this  he  puts  it  to  the  court  and  jury 
that  Thomas  McElrath  is  one  of  the  editors  of  '  The 
Tribune,'  and  that  he,  being  (having  been)  a  lawyer, 
would  have  been  in  court  to  defend  this  suit  if  there 
was  any  valid  defence  to  be  made.  This,  of  course, 
went  very  hard  against  us  ;  and  it  was  to  no  purpose 
that  we  informed  him  that  Thomas  McElrath,  though 
legally  implicated  in  it,  had  nothing  to  do  practically 
with  this  matter  (all  which  he  knew  very  well  long 
21* 


246  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GREELEY. 

before),  and  that  the  other  defendant  is  the  man  who 
does  whatever  libelling  is  done  in  '  The  Tribune,'  and 
holds  himself  eveywhere  responsible  for  it.  We 
presume  there  is  not  much  doubt  even  so  far  off  as 
Cooperstown  as  to  who  edits  *  The  Tribune,'  and  who 
wrote  the  editorial  about  the  Fonda  business  (in  point 
of  fact,  the  real  and  palpable  defendant  in  this  suit 
never  conversed  with  his  partner  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
altogether  about  this  subject,  considering  it  entirely 
his  own  job  ;  and  the  plaintiff  himself,  in  conversation 
with  Mr.  McElrath,  in  the  presence  of  his  attorney,  had 
fully  exonerated  Mr.  McElrath  from  any  thing  more 
than  legal  liability).  But  Richard  was  on  his  legs  as  a 
lawyer :  he  pointed  to  the  seal  on  his  bond,  and 
therefore  insisted  that  Thomas  McElrath  was  act  and 
part  in  the  alleged  libel,  not  only  legally,  but  actually, 
and  would  have  been  present  to  respond  to  it  if  he  had 
deemed  it  susceptible  of  defence !  As  a  lawyer,  we 
suppose  this  was  right ;  but,  as  an  editor  and  a  man, 
we  could  not  have  done  it." 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  story,  Mr.  Greeley  addressed 
the  jury  in  the  following  speech  :  " '  Should  you  find, 
gentlemen,'"  says  Mr.  Greeley,  "  '  that  I  had  no  right 
to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  honor  and  magnanimity 
of  Mr.  Cooper  in  pushing  his  case  to  a  trial  as  related, 
you  will,  of  course,  compel  me  to  pay  whatever  damage 
has  been  done  to  his  character  by  such  expression, 


LIBELS   AND   LIBEL-SUITS.  247 

followed  and  accompanied  by  his  own  statement  of  the 
whole  matter.  I  will  not  predict  your  estimate,  gen- 
tlemen ;  but  f  may  express  my  profound  conviction 
that  no  opinion  which  Mr.  Cooper  might  choose  to 
express  of  any  act  of  my  life,  no  construction  he 
could  put  upon  my  conduct  or  motives,  could  possibly 
damage  me  to  an  extent  which  would  entitle  or  incline 
me  to  ask  damages  at  your  hands. 

" '  But,  gentlemen,  you  are.  bound  to  consider,  you 
cannot  refuse  to  consider,  that,  if  you  condemn  me  to 
pay  any  sum  whatever  for  this  expression  of  my  opin- 
ion on  his  conduct,  you  thereby  seal  your  own  lips, 
with  those  of  your  neighbors  and  countrymen,  against 
any  such  expression  in  this  or  any  other  case  :  you  will 
no  longer  have  a  right  to  censure  the  rich  man  who 
harasses  his  poor  neighbor  with  vexatious  lawsuits 
merely  to  oppress  and  ruin  him,  but  will  be  liable  by 
your  own  verdict  to  prosecution  and  damages  whenever 
you  shall  feel  constrained  to  condemn  what  appears  to 
you  injustice,  oppression,  or  littleness,  no  matter  how 
flagrant  the  case  may  be. 

"'  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  my  character,  my  reputa- 
tion, are  in  your  hands.  I  think  I  may  say  that  I 
commit  them  to  your  keeping  untarnished :  I  will  not 
doubt  that  you  will  return  them  to  me  unsullied. 
I  ask  of  you  no  mercy,  but  justice.  I  have  not  sought 
this  issue ;  but  neither  have  I  feared  nor  shunned  it. 


248  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

Should  you  render  the  verdict  against  me,  I  shall  de- 
plore far  more  than  any  pecuniary  consequence  the 
stigma  of  libeller  which  your  verdict  would  tend  to  cast 
upon  me,  —  an  imputation  which  I  was  never,  till  now, 
called  to  repel  before  a  jury  of  my  countrymen.  But, 
gentlemen,  feeling  no  consciousness  of  deserving  such 
a  stigma ;  feeling  at  this  moment,  as  ever,  a  profound 
conviction  that  I  do  not  deserve  it,  —  I  shall  yet  be  con- 
soled by  the  reflection  that  many  nobler  and  worthier 
than  I  have  suffered  far  more  than  any  judgment  here 
could  inflict  on  me  for  the  rights  of  free  speech 
and  opinion,  —  the  right  of  rebuking  oppression  and 
meanness  in  the  language  of  manly  sincerity  and 
honest  feeling.  By  their  example  may  I  still  be  up- 
held and  strengthened  !  Gentlemen,  I  fearlessly  await 
your  decision.' 

"  Mr.  J.  Fenimore  Cooper  summed  up  in  person 
the  cause  for  the  prosecution.  He  commenced  by 
giving  at  length  the  reasons  which  had  induced  him  to 
bring  this  suit  to  Saratoga.  The  last  and  only  one 
that  made  any  impression  on  our  mind  was  this,  —  that 
he  had  heard  a  great  deal  of  good  of  the  people  of 
Saratoga,  and  wished  to  form  a  better  acquaintance 
with  them.  (Of  course,  this  desire  was  very  flattering : 
but  we  hope  the  Saratogans  won't  feel  too  proud  to 
speak  to  common  folks  hereafter ;  for  we  want  liberty 
to  go  there  again  next  summer.) 


LIBELS   AXD   LIBEL-SUITS.  249 

"  Mr.  Cooper  now  walked  into  the  public  press  and 
its  alleged  abuses,  arrogant  pretensions,  its  interfer- 
ence in  this  case,  probable  motives,  &c.  ;  but  the 
public  are  already  aware  of  his  sentiments  respecting 
the  press,  and  would  not  thank  us  to  recapitulate 
them.  His  stories  of  editors  publishing  truth  and 
falsehood  with  equal  relish  may  have  foundation  in. 
individual  cases,  but  certainly  none  in  general  practice. 
No  class  of  men  spend  a  tenth  part  so  much  time  or 
money  in  endeavoring  to  procure  the  earliest  and  best 
information  from  all  quarters  as  it  is  their  duty  to  do. 
Occasionally  an  erroneous  or  utterly  false  statement 
gets  into  print,  and  is  copied ;  for  editors  cannot 
intuitively  separate  all  truth  from  falsehood :  but 
the  evil  arises  mainly  from  the  circumstance  that 
others  than  editors  are  often  the  spectators  of  events 
demanding  publicity  ;  since  we  cannot  tell  where  the 
next  man  is  to  be  killed,  or  the  next  storm  will  rage,  or 
the  next  important  cause  be  tried.  If  we  had  the  power 
of  prophecy,  it  would  then  be  time  to  invent  some 
steam-lightning  balloon,  and  have  a  reporter  ready  on 
the  spot  the  moment  before  any  notable  event  should 
occur.  This  would  do  it ;  but  now  we  luckless  editors 
must  too  often  depend  on  the  observation  and  reports 
of  those  who  are  less  observant,  less  careful,  possibly 
in  some  cases  less  sagacious,  than  those  of  our  own 
tribe.  Our  limitations  are  not  unlike  those  of  Mr. 


250  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

Weller,  jun.,  as  stated  while  under  cross-examination 
in  the  case  of  Bardell  vs.  Pickwick :  — 

"  '  Yes,  I  have  eyes,'  replied  Sam  ;  '  and  that's  just 
it.  If  they  was  a  pair  of  patent  double  .million  mag- 
nifyin'  gas  microscopes  of  hextra  power,  p'raps  I  might 
be  able  to  see  through  a  flight  of  stairs  and  a  deal 
door;  but  bein'  only  eyes,  you  see,  my  wision's 
limited.' 

"  Fenimore  proceeded  to  consider  our  defence, 
which  he  used  up  in  five  minutes  by  pronouncing  it 
no  defence  at  all.  It  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  mat- 
ter in  issue  whatever ;  and  we  must  be  very  green  if 
we  meant  to  be  serious  in  offering  it.  (We  were 
rather  green  in  supreme-court  libel  law,  that's  a 
fact ;  but  we  were  put  to  school  soon  after,  and  have 
already  run  up  quite  a  little  bill  for  tuition,  which  is 
one  sign  of  progress.)  His  Honor  the  judge  would  tell 
the  jury  that  our  law  was  no  law  whatever,  or  had 
nothing  to  do  with  this  case.  (So  he  did :  Cooper 
was  right  here.)  In  short,  our  speech  could  not  have 
been  meant  to  apply  to  this  case,  but  was  probably  the 
scrapings  of  our  editorial  closet,  —  mere  odds  and 
ends,  —  what  the  editors  call  '  Balaam.'  Here  fol- 
lowed an  historical  digression  concerning  what  editors 
call  '  Balaam,'  which,  as  it  was  intended  to  illustrate 
the  irrelevancy  of  our  whole  argument,  we  thought 
very  pertinent.  It  wound  up  with  what  was  meant 


LIBELS  AKD  LIBEL-SUITS.  251 

for  a  joke  about  Balaam  aud  his  ass,  which,  of  course, 
was  a  good  thing;  but  its  point  wholly  escaped  us, 
and  we  believe  the  auditors  were  equally  unfortunate. 
However,  the  wag  himself  appreciated  and  enjoyed  it. 

"  There  were  several  other  jokes  (we  suppose  they 
were)  uttered  in  the  course  of  this  lively  speech ;  but 
we  didn't  get  into  their  merits,  probably  uot  being  in 
the  best  humor  for  joking.  But  one  we  remembered 
because  it  was  really  good,  and  came  down  to  our  com- 
prehension. Fenimore  was  replying  to  our  remarks 
about  the  '  handsome  Mr.  Effinghain,'  when  he  observed, 
that,  if  we  should  sue  him  for  libel  in  pronouncing  us 
not  handsome,  he  should  not  plead  the  general  issue, 
but  justify.  That  was  a  neat  hit,  and  well  planted. 
We  can  tell  him,  however,  that,  if  the  court  should  rule 
as  hard  against  him  as  it  does  against  editors  when 
they  undertake  to  justify,  he  would  find  it  difficult  to 
get  in  the  testimony  to  establish  a  matter  even  so 
plain  as  our  plainness. 

"  Personally,  Fenimore  treated  us  pretty  well  on 
this  trial :  let  us  thank  him  for  that,  and  so  much 
the  more  that  he  did  it  quite  at  the  expense  of 
his  consistency  and  his  logic.  For,  after  stating 
plumply  that  he  considered  us  the  best  of  the  whole 
press-gang  he  had  been  fighting  with,  he  yet  went  on 
to  argue  that  all  we  had  done  and  attempted  with  the 
intent  of  rendering  him  strict  justice  had  been  in 


252  LIFE   OP   HORACE   GKEELEY. 

aggravation  of  our  original  trespass !  Yes,  there  he 
stood,  saying  one  moment  we  were,  on  the  whole, 
rather  a  clever  fellow,  and  every  other  arguing  that 
we  had  done  nothing  but  to  injure  him  wantonly  and 
maliciously  at  first,  and  then  all  in  our  power  to 
aggravate  that  injury!  (What  a  set  the  rest  of  us 
must  be  !) 

"  And  here  is  where  he  hit  us  hard  for  the  first  time. 
He  had  talked  over  an  hour,  without  gaining,  as  we 
could  perceive,  an  inch  of  ground.  When  his  compli- 
ment was  put  in,  we  supposed  he  was  going  on  to  say 
he  was  satisfied  with  our  explanation  of  the  matter, 
and  our  intentions  to  do  him  justice,  and  would 
now  throw  up  the  case :  but,  instead  of  this,  he 
took  a  sheer  the  other  way,  and  came  down  upon  us 
with  the  assertion  that  our  publishing  his  statement 
of  the  Fonda  business  with  our  comments  was  an 
aggravation  of  our  original  offence  ;  was,  in  effect, 
adding  insult  to  injury. 

"  There  was  a  little  point  made  by  the  prosecution 
which  seemed  to  us  too  little.  Our  Fonda  letter  had 
averred  that  Cooper  had  three  libel-suits  coming  off 
there  at  that  circuit,  —  two  against  Webb,  one  against 
Weed.  Richard  and  Fenimore  argued  that  this  was  a 
lie :  the  one  against  Weed  was  all.  The  nicety  of 
the  distinction  here  taken  will  be  appreciated  when  we 
explain  that  the  suits  against  Webb  were  indictments 
for  libels  on  J.  Fenimore  Cooper. 


LIBELS  AND  LIBEL-SUITS.  253 

"  "We  supposed  that  Fenimore  would  pile  up  the  law 
against  us,  but  were  disappointed.  He  merely  cited 
the  last  case  decided  against  an  editor  by  the  supreme 
court  of  this  State.  Of  course,  it  was  very  fierce 
against  editors  and  their  libels,  but  did  not  strike  us 
as  at  all  meeting  the  issue  we  had  raised,  or  covering 
the  grounds  on  which  this  case  ought  to  have  been 
decided. 

"  Fenimore  closed  very  effectively  with  an  appeal 
for  his  character,  and  a  picture  of  the  sufferings  of  his 
wife  and  family,  —  his  grown-up  daughters  often  suf- 
fused in  tears  by  these  attacks  on  their  father.  Some 
said  this  was  mawkish  ;  but  we  consider  it  good, 
and  think  it  told.  We  have  a  different  theory  as  to 
what  the  girls  were  crying  for ;  but  we  won't  state  it, 
lest  another  dose  of  supreme-court  law  be  adminis- 
tered to  us.  ('  Not  any  more  at  present,  I  thank  ye.') 

"  Fenimore  closed  something  before  two  o'clock, 
having  spoken  over  an  hour  and  a  half.  If  he  had  not 
wasted  so  much  time  in  promising  to  make  but  a  short 
speech  and  to  close  directly,  he  could  have  got  through 
considerably  sooner.  Then  he  did  wrong  to  Richard  by 
continually  recurring  to  and  making  fulsome  eulogiums 
on  the  argument  of  '  my  learned  kinsman.'  Richard 
had  made  a  good  speech  and  an  effective  one,  —  no 
mistake  about  it,  —  and  Fenimore  must  mar  it,  first  by 
needless,  provoking  interruptions,  and  then  by  praises, 
22 


254  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

which,  though  deserved,  were  horribly  out  of  place  and 
out  of  taste.  Fenimore,  my  friend,  you  and  I  had 
better  abandon  the  bar :  we  are  not  likely  either  of  us 
to  cut  much  of  a  figure  there.  Let  us  quit  before  we 
make  ourselves  ridiculous. 

"  His  Honor  Judge  Willard  occupied  a  brief  half- 
hour  in  charging  the  jury.  We  could  not  decently 
appear  occupied  in  taking  down  this  charge ;  and  no 
one  else  did  it :  so  we  must  speak  of  it  with  great  cir- 
cumspection. That  he  would  go  dead  against  us  on 
the  law  of  the  case  we  knew  right  well  from  his  decis- 
ions and  charges  on  similar  trials  before. 

"  Not  having  his  law-points  before  us,  we  shall  not 
venture  to  speak  of  them.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
they  were  New- York  supreme  and  circuit  court  law, 
—  no  better  and  no  worse  than  he  has  measured  off  to 
several  editorial  culprits  before  us.  They  are  the  set- 
tled maxims  of  the  supreme  court  of  this  State  in 
regard  to  the  law  of  libel  as  applied  to  editors  and 
newspapers ;  and  we  must  have  been  a  goose  to  expect 
any  better  than  had  been  served  out  to  our  betters. 
The  judge  was  hardly,  if  at  all,  at  liberty  to  know  or 
tolerate  any  other. 

"  But  we  have  filled  our  paper,  and  must  close. 
The  judge  charged  very  hard  against  us  on  the  facts 
of  the  case,  as  calling  for  a  pretty  sizable  verdict : 
our  legal  guilt  had,  of  course,  been  settled  long  before 


LIBELS  AND  LIBEL-SUITS.  255 

in  the  supreme  court.  When  the  charge  commenced, 
we  would  not  have  given  Fenimore  the  first  red  cent 
for  his  verdict ;  when  it  closed,  we  understood  that 
we  were  booked  to  suffer  some.  If  the  jury  had 
returned  a  verdict  in  our  favor,  the  judge  must  have 
been  constrained  by  his  charge  to  set  it  aside  as  con- 
trary to  law. 

"  The  jury  retired  about  half-past  two,  and  the  rest 
of  us  went  to  dinner.  The  jury  were  hungry  too, 
and  did  not  stay  out  long.  On  comparing  notes, 
there  were  seven  of  them  for  a  verdict  of  a  hundred 
dollars,  two  for  two  hundred  dollars,  and  three  for 
five  hundred  dollars.  They  added  these  sums  up 
(total  twenty-six  hundred  dollars),  divided  by  twelve  ; 
and  the  dividend  was  a  little  over  two  hundred  dol- 
lars :  so  they  called  it  two  hundred  dollars  damages, 
and  six  cents  costs,  which,  of  course,  carries  full  costs 
against  us.  We  went  back  from  dinner  ;  took  the 
verdict  in  all  meekness  ;  took  a  sleigh,  and  struck  a 
bee-line  for  New  York. 

"  Thus  for  '  The  Tribune  '  the  rub-a-dub  is  over, 
the  adze,  we  trust,  laid  aside,  the  staves  all  in  their 
places,  the  hoops  tightly  driven,  and  the  heading  not 
particularly  out  of  order.  Nothing  remains  but  to 
pay  piper  or  cooper,  or  whatever  ;  and  that  shall  be 
promptly  attended  to. 

"  Yes,  Fenimore  shall  have  his  two  hundred  dollars. 


256  LIFE    OF   HORACE    GBEELEY. 

To  be  sure,  we  don't  exactly  see  how  we  came  to  owe 
him  that  sum  ;  but  he  has  won  it,  and  shall  be  paid. 
'  The  court  awards  it,  and  the  law  doth  give  it.'  We 
should  like  to  meet  him,  and  have  a  social  chat  over 
the  whole  business,  now  it  is  over.  There  has  been  a 
good  deal  of  fun  in  it,  come  to  look  back  ;  and,  if  he 
has  as  little  ill-will  toward  us  as  we  bear  to  him,  there 
shall  never  be  another  hard  thought  between  us. 
We  don't  blame  him  a  bit  for  the  whole  matter:  he 
thought  we  injured  him,  sued  us,  and  got  his  pay. 
Since  the  jury  have  cut  down  his  little  bill  from 
three  thousand  to  two  hundred  dollars,  we  won't 
higgle  a  bit  about  the  balance,  but  pay  it  on  sight. 
In  fact,  we  rather  like  the  idea  of  being  so  munificent 
a  patron  (for  our  means)  of  American  literature  ; 
and  we  are  glad  to  do  any  thing  for  one  of  the  most 
creditable  (of  old)  of  our  authors,  who  are  now 
generally  reduced  to  any  shift  for  a  living  by  that 
grand  national  rascality  and  greater  folly,  the  denial 
of  international  copyright.  *  My  pensive  public,' 
don't  flatter  yourself  that  we  are  to  be  rendered 
mealy-mouthed  toward  you  by  our  buffeting.  We 
shall  put  it  to  your  iniquities  just  as  straight  as  a 
loon's  leg,  calling  a  spade  a  spade,  and  not  an  oblong 
garden  implement,  until  the  judicial  construction  of 
the  law  of  libel  shall  take  another  hitch,  and  its 
penalties  be  invoked  to  shield  communities  as  well  as 


LIBELS  AND  LIBEL-SUITS.  257 

individuals  from  censure  for  their  transgressions. 
Till  then,  keep  a  bright  lookout! 

"  And  Richard,  too,  shall  have  his  share  of  '  the 
spoils  of  victory.'  He  has  earned  them  fairly,  and, 
in  the  main,  like  a  gentleman,  making  us  no  needless 
trouble,  and,  we  presume,  no  needless  expense.  All 
was  fair  and  above-board,  save  some  little  specks  in 
his  opening  of  the  case,  which  we  noticed  some  hours 
ago,  and  have  long  since  forgiven.  For  the  rest,  we 
rather  like  what  we  have  seen  of  him  ;  and  if  any- 
body has  any  law-business  in  Otsego,  or  any  libel-suits 
to  prosecute  anywhere,  we  heartily  recommend  Rich- 
ard to  do  the  work,  warranting  the  client  to  be  hand- 
somely taken  in  and  done  for  throughout.  (There's 
a  puff,  now,  a  man  may  be  proud  of.  We  don't  give 
such  every  day  out  of  pure  kindness.  It  was  Feni- 
more,  we  believe,  that  said  on  the  trial,  that  our 
word  went  a  great  way  in  this  country.)  Can  we  say 
a  good  word  for  you,  gallant  foeman  ?  We'll  praise 
any  thing  of  yours  we  have  read  except  *  The  Moni- 
kins.' 

"  But  sadder  thoughts  rush  in  on  us  in  closing. 
Our  case  is  well  enough,  or  of  no  moment ;  but  we 
cannot  resist  the  conviction,  that  by  the  result  of  these 
Cooper  libel-suits,  and  by  the  judicial  constructions 
which  produce  that  result,  the  liberty  of  the  press, 
its  proper  influence  and  respectability,  its  power  to 
22* 


258  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GKEELEY. 

rebuke  wrong  and  to  exert  a  salutary  influence  upon 
the  public  morals,  is  fearfully  impaired.  We  do  not 
see  how  any  paper  can  exist,  and  speak  and  act 
worthily  and  usefully,  iu  this  State,  without  subject- 
ing itself  daily  to  innumerable  unjust  and  crushing 
prosecutions  and  indictments  for  libel.  Even  if 
juries  could  have  nerves  of  iron  to  say  and  do  what 
they  really  think  right  between  man  and  man,  the 
costs  of  such  prosecution  would  ruin  any  journal. 
But  the  liberty  of  the  press  has  often  been  compelled 
to  appeal  from  the  bench  to  the  people.  It  will  do  so 
now,  and,  we  will  not  doubt,  with  success.  Let  not, 
then,  the  wrong-doer  who  is  cunning  enough  to  keep 
the  blind  side  of  the  law,  the  swindling  banker  who 
has  spirited  away  the  means  of  the  widow  and  orphan, 
the  libertine  who  has  dragged  a  fresh  victim  to  his 
lair,  imagine  that  they  are  permanently  shielded,  by 
this  misapplication  of  the  law  of  libel,  from  fearless 
exposure  to  public  scrutiny  and  indignation  by  the 
eagle  gaze  of  an  unfettered  press.  Clouds  and 
darkness  may  for  the  moment  rest  upon  it ;  but  they 
cannot,  in  the  nature  of  things,  endure.  In  the  very 
gloom  of  its  present  humiliation  we  read  the  predic- 
tion of  its  speedy  and  certain  restoration  to  its  rights 
and  its  true  dignity,  —  to  a  sphere,  not  of  legal  suf- 
ferance merely,  but  of  admitted  usefulness  and 
honor." 


LIBELS  AND  LIBEL-SUITS.  259 

It  must  be  confessed  Mr.  Greeley  handled  this 
whole  affair  of  libel-suits  in  an  able  and  admirable 
way/and  in  such  manner  as  resulted  in  good  to  the 
press  generally,  and  in  honor  to  the  great  State  of 
New  York  ;  for,  since  that  period,  the  press  has  been 
less  trammelled,  and  the  State  has  reviewed  and 
amended  her  uncouth,  senseless,  and  contradictory 
code,  and  adopted  one  more  in  accordance  with  our 
republican  institutions  and  common  sense. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

MR.  GREELEY'S  VISITS  TO  EUROPE. 

His  First  Visit  in  1851.  —  At  the  World's  Fair  of  that  Year,  he  is  made  Chair- 
man of  one  of  the  Juries.  —  He  delivers  the  Address  to  the  Constructor  of 
the  Palace.  —  His  Second  Visit  to  the  Old  World.  —  He  is  arrested  in 
Paris  for  Debt,  and  imprisoned. 

IV  /TR.  GREELEY'S  first  visit  abroad  was  made  in 
-*-  the  year  1851.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the 
commissioners  to  the  World's  Fair  this  year  in  London. 
In  his  "  Recollections,"  he  gives  the  following  account 
of  this  visit :  — 

"  Having  left  New  York  in  the  stanch  American 
steamship  '  Baltic,'  Capt.  J.  J.  Comstock,  on  the  llth 
of  April,  when  a  cold  north-easter  had  just  set  in,  we 
took  it  with  us  across  the  Atlantic,  rarely  blessed 
with  a  brief  glimpse  of  the  watery  sun  during  our 
rough  passage  of  twelve  days  and  some  hours,  encoun- 
tering a  severe  gale  on  our  first  night  out,  and  another 
as  we  reached  soundings  on  the  Irish  coast ;  and,  being 
surfeited  with  rain  and  head-winds  during  our  entire 

260 


MB.  GREELEY'S  VISITS  TO  EUROPE.         261 

passage,  I  was  sick  unto  death's  door  for  most  of  the 
time,  eating  by  an  effort  when  I  ate  at  all,  and  as 
thoroughly  miserable  as  I  knew  how  to  be  :  so  that 
the  dirty,  grimy  little  tug  that  at  last  approached  to 
take  us  ashore  at  Liverpool  seemed  to  me,  though  by 
no  means  white-winged,  an  angel  of  deliverance ;  and 
my  first  meal  on  solid,  well-behaving  earth  will  long  be 
remembered  with  gratitude  to  the  friends  who  provided 
and  shared  it.  I  have  since  repeatedly  braved  the 
perils  and  miseries  of  the  raging  main,  and  have  never 
found  the  latter  so  intolerable  as  on  that  first  voyage  ; 
yet  the  ocean  and  I  remain  but  distant,  unloving 
acquaintances,  with  no  prospect  of  ever  becoming 
friends. 

"  Reaching  London  just  before  the  Exhibition  opened, 
I  was  accorded  by  the  partiality  of  my  countrymen 
who  had  preceded  me  (somewhat  strengthened,  I 
believe,  by  their  jealousy  of  each  other}  the  position 
of  chairman  of  one  of  the  juries  ;  each  of  the 
countries  largely  represented  in  the  Exhibition  being 
allowed  one  chairman.  My  department  (Class  X.) 
included  about  three  thousand  lots  (not  merely  three 
thousand  articles),  and  was  entitled,  I  believe,  '  Hard- 
ware ; '  but  it  embraced  not  only  metals,  but  all  man- 
ner of  devices  for  generating  or  economizing  gas, 
for  eliminating  or  diffusing  heat,  &c.  The  duties 
thus  devolved  upon  me  were  entirely  beyond  my 


262  LIFE   OF   HORACE    GREELEY. 

capacity:  but  my  vice-chairman,  Mr.  William  Bird, 
a  leading  British  iron-master  and  London  merchant, 
was  as  eminently  qualified  for  those  duties  as  I  was 
deficient ;  and  between  us  the  work  was  so  done,  that 
no  complaint  of  its  quality  ever  reached  me.  We  had 
several  most  competent  colleagues  on  our  jury,  among 
them  M.  Spitaels  of  Belgium,  a  director  of  the  Vielle 
Montaigne  Zinc  Mines,  and  one  of  the  wisest  and  best 
men  I  ever  knew." 

When  Mr.  Greeley  reached  London,  he  immediately 
repaired  to  the  residence  of  the  publisher  John  Chap- 
man ;  and  this  was  his  home  during  his  stay  in  that 
city. 

Mr.  Greeley  was  appointed  by  the  commission  a 
member  of  the  jury  on  hardware;  and  of  this  jury  he 
was  made  chairman. 

A  great  banquet  was  given  by  the  London  commis- 
sioners to  the  commissioners  from  foreign  countries. 
Lord  Ashburton,  who  presided  at  this  banquet,  desired 
that  the  toast  in  honor  of  Mr.  Joseph  Paxton,  the 
architect  of  the  Crystal  Palace,  should  be  given  by  an 
American;  and  Mr.  Riddle,  the  commissioner  from  the 
United  States,  named  Mr.  Greeley  as  the  proper  man 
to  do  it,  which  he  did  in  the  following  admirable 
speech :  — 

"  In  my  own  land,  my  lords  and  gentlemen,  where 
Nature  is  still  so  rugged  and  unconquered,  where  popu- 


MK.  GREELEY'S  VISITS  TO  EUROPE.         263 

lation  is  yet  so  scanty,  and  the  demands  for  human 
exertion  are  so  various  and  urgent,  it  is  but  natural 
that  we  should  render  marked  honor  to  labor,  and 
especially  to  those  who,  by  invention  or  discovery,  con- 
tribute to  shorten  the  processes  and  increase  the  effi- 
ciency of  industry.  It  is  but  natural,  therefore,  that 
this  grand  conception  of  a  comparison  of  the  state  of 
industry  in  all  nations  by  means  of  a  world's  exhi- 
bition should  there  have  been  received  and  canvassed 
with  a  lively  and  general  interest,  —  an  interest  which 
is  not  measured  by  the  extent  of  our  contributions. 

"  Ours  is  still  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  nations, 
with  few  large  accumulations  of  the  fruits  of  manufac- 
turing activity  or  artistic  skill ;  and  these  so  generally 
needed  for  use,  that  we  were  not  likely  to  send  them 
three  thousand  miles  away  merely  for  show. 

"  It  is  none  the  less  certain  that  the  progress  of  this 
great  Exhibition,  from  its  original  conception  to  that 
perfect  realization  which  we  here  commemorate,  has 
been  watched  and  discussed  not  more  earnestly 
throughout  the  saloons  of  Europe  than  by  the  smith's 
forge  and  the  mechanic's  bench  in  America. 

"  Especially  the  hopes  and  fears  alternately  pre- 
dominant on  this  side  wibh  respect  to  the  edifice 
required  for  the  Exhibition,  the  doubts  as  to  the  prac- 
ticability of  erecting  one  sufficiently  capacious  and 
commodious  to  contain  and  display  the  contributions 


264  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GREELEY. 

of  the  whole  world,  the  apprehension  that  it  could 
not  be  rendered  impervious  to  water,  the  confident 
assertions  that  it  could  not  be  completed  in  season  for 
opening  the  Exhibition  on  the  1st  of  May  as  promised, 
all  found  an  echo  on  our  shores ;  and  now  the  tid- 
ings that  all  these  doubts  have  been  dispelled,  these 
difficulties  removed,  will  have  been  hailed  there  with 
unmingled  satisfaction. 

"  I  trust,  gentlemen,  that,  among  the  ultimate  fruits 
of  this  Exhibition,  we  are  to  reckon  a  wider  and  deeper 
appreciation  of  the  worth  of  labor,  and  especially  of 
those  '  captains  of  industry '  by  whose  conceptions 
and  achievements  our  race  is  so  rapidly  borne  onward 
in  its  progress  to  a  loftier  and  more  benignant  des- 
tiny. We  shall  be  likely  to  appreciate  more  fully  the 
merits  of  the  wise  statesman,  by  whose  measures  a 
people's  thrift  and  happiness  are  promoted  ;  of  the 
brave  soldier,  who  joyfully  pours  out  his  blood  in 
defence  of  the  rights  or  in  vindication  of  the  honor  of 
his  country  ;  of  the  sacred  teacher,  by  whose  precepts 
and  example  our  steps  are  guided  in  the  pathway  to 
heaven,  —  if  we  render  fit  honor  also  to  those  'cap- 
tains of  industry,'  whose  tearless  victories  redden  no 
river,  and  whose  conquering  march  is  unmarked  by 
the  tears  of  the  widow  and  the  cries  of  the  orphan. 
I  give  you,  therefore,  '  The  health  of  JOSEPH  PAXTON, 
Esq.,  designer  of  the  Crystal  Palace.'  " 


ME.  GREELEY'S  VISITS  TO  EUROPE.         265 

His  first  trip  to  Europe  was  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing events  of  his  "  busy  life ;"  and  the  first  thing  he 
did  on  his  arrival  in  New  York  was  to  get  out  an 
extra,  containing  the  news  by  "  The  Baltic,"  in  advance 
of  any  other  paper.  This  he  was  able  to  do,  as  he  had 
fully  prepared  it  on  the  voyage.  He  attended  to  this 
before  he  visited  his  home,  thus  showing  how  he 
was  wedded  to  "  The  Tribune "  and  the  editorial 
profession. 

In  the  spring  of  1855,  Mr.  Greeley  again  visited 
Europe.  This  was  the  first  year  of  the  Paris  Exposition. 
Mr.  Greeley  remained  abroad  this  time  three  months. 
In  this  second  visit  abroad,  Mr.  Greeley  was  arrested  on 
a  claim  for  debt.  In  reference  to  this  affair,  he  states 
the  following  as  the  ostensible  ground  of  this  arrest 
and  imprisonment :  "  I  had  been  looking  at  things,  if 
not  into  them,  for  a  good  many  years  prior  to  yesterday. 
I  had  climbed  mountains  and  descended  into  mines, 
had  groped  in  caves  and  scaled  precipices,  seen  Venice 
and  Cincinnati,  Dublin  and  Mineral  Point,  Niagara 
and  St.  Gothard,  and  really  supposed  I  was  approxi- 
mating a  middling  outside  knowledge  of  things  in 
general.  I  had  been  chosen  defendant  in  several  libel- 
suits,  and  been  flattered  with  the  information  that  my 
censures  were  deemed  of  more  consequence  than  those 
of  other  people,  and  should  be  paid  for  accordingly. 

I  have  been  through  twenty  of  our  States,  yet  never 

M 


266  LIFE  OF  HOEACE  GEEELEY. 

in  jail  outside  of  New  York  ;  and  over  half  Europe, 
yet  never  looked  into  one.  Here  I  had  been  seeing 
Paris  for  the  last  six  weeks,  visiting  this  sight,  then 
that,  till  there  seemed  little  remaining  worth  looking 
at  or  after ;  yet  I  had  never  once  thought  of  looking 
into  a  debtor's  prison.  I  should  probably  have  gone 
away  next  week  as  ignorant  in  that  regard  as  I  came, 
when  circumstances  favored  me  most  unexpectedly 
with  an  inside  view  of  this  famous  maison  de  detention, 
or  prison  for  debtors,  70  Rue  de  Clichy.  I  think  what 
I  have  seen  here,  fairly  told,  must  be  instructive  and 
interesting  ;  and  I  suppose  others  will  tell  the  story  if 
I  do  not,  and  I  don't  know  any  one  whose  opportunities 
will  enable  him  to  tell  it  so  accurately  as  I  have  else- 
where. 

"  But  first  let  me  explain  and  insist  on  the  important 
distinction  between  inside  and  outside  views  of  a  prison. 
People  fancy  they  have  been  in  a  prison  when  they 
have  by  courtesy  been  inside  of  the  gates :  but  that  is 
properly  an  outside  view ;  at  best,  the  view  accorded 
to  an  outsider.  It  gives  you  no  proper  idea  of  the 
place  at  all,  —  no  access  to  its  penetralia.  The  differ- 
ence even  between  this  outside  and  the  proper  inside 
view  is  very  broad  indeed.  The  greenness  of  those 
who  don't  know  how  the  world  looks  from  the  wrong 
side  of  the  gratings  is  pitiable  :  yet  how  many  reflect 
on  the  disdain  with  which  the  lion  must  regard  the 


ME.  GREELEY'S  VISITS  TO  EUROPE.         267 

bumpkin  who  perverts  his  goad-stick  to  the  ignoble  use 
of  stirring  said  lion  up  !  or  how  many  suspect  that 
the  grin  wherewith  the  baboon  contemplates  the 
human  ape,  who,  with  umbrella  at  arm's-length,  is 
poking  Jocko  for  his  doxy's  delectation,  is  one  of  con- 
tempt rather  than  complacency !  Rely  on  it,  the 
world  seen  here  behind  the  gratings  is  very  different 
in  aspect  from  that  same  world  otherwise  inspected. 
Others  may  think  so  :  I  know  it.  And  this  is  how  :  — 
"  I  had  been  down  at  the  Palace  of  Industry,  and 
returned  to  my  lodgings,  when,  a  little  before  four 
o'clock  yesterday  afternoon,  four  strangers  called  for 
me.  By  the  help  of  my  courier,  I  soon  learned  that 
they  had  a  writ  of  arrest  for  me  at  the  suit  of  one 
Mons.  Lechesne,  sculptor,  affirming  that  he  sent  a 
statue  to  the  New- York  Crystal-palace  Exhibition,  at 
or  on  the  way  to  which  it  had  been  broken,  so  that  it 
could  not  be  (at  all  events  it  had  not  been)  restored 
to  him :  wherefore  he  asked  of  me,  as  a  director 
and  representative  of  the  Crystal-palace  Association, 
to  pay  him  douze  mille  francs,  or  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars."  .  .  . 

We  should  like  to  give  the  reader  the  balance  of 
this  humorous  description  ;  but  space  prevents. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

HORACE  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OP  CHARACTERS. 

Mr.  Greeley's  Views  of  Working-Men.  —  Mr.  Greeley  as  a  Lecturer.  —  Mr. 
Greeley  an  Author.  —  The  Work  published.  —  Addresses  and  Essays.  — 
All  for  the  Working-Men.  —  Mr.  Greeley  as  a  Man  of  Letters.  —  The 
Great  Trees  of  Mariposa.  —  His  Honesty.  —  "  The  Tribune  "  an  Educa- 
tor.—  An  Editor  to  speak  reproachfully  of  Horace  Greeley  —  what  is  he? 
—  What  Whittier,  the  Quaker-Poet,  said.  —  How  much  it  implies.  —  "  He 
who  would  strike  Horace  Greeley  would  strike  his  Mother."  —  Testimony 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows;  ofW.  E.  Robinson;  of  the  Poet  Whittier.  —  Remarks 
on  Mr.  Greeley's  Letter  of  Acceptance  of  the  Cincinnati  Nomination. — 
On  his  Dress.  —  Of  his  Inconsistency.  —  Proposal  to  buy  the  Slaves.  — 
Signing  Jeff.  Davis's  Bail.  —  Comparison  between  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Horace  Greeley  in  the.jr  Childhood  and  Youth:  both  Poor;  both  Readers; 
both  loved  by  their  Fellows;  both  excelled  their  Teachers. 

AS    a  working-man,  lie   always  worked   himself. 
From  a  boy  up,  all  along,  personally,  lie  has 
been  a  worker. 

But  I  now  mean  more  than  this, — more  than  that 
he  worked  with  his  own  hands :  I  mean  that  he 
wished  to  do  something  for  the  working-men  by  which 
they  should  receive  more  profit  than  the  simple  wages 
of  a  hireling  for  their  labor.  Mr.  Greeley  had 

268 


ME.  GEEELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHAEACTEES.     269 

looked  into  organizations  in  society  in  various  forms ; 
he  had  written  and  talked  about  common-stock  move- 
ments, Fourierism,  &c. ;  till  these  questions  seemed 
in  some  measure  to  be  brought  home  to  him :  "  Physi- 
cian, heal  thyself; "  make  "  The  Tribune  "  a  company 
concern.  While  Horace  Greeley  and  McElrath  are 
rich  in  owning  "  The  Tribune,"  and  are  talking  about 
aiding  the  working-men  to  escape  from  the  condition 
of  mere  hirelings,  and  be  benefited  by  sharing  in  the 
profits  of  their  labor,  why  not  make  "  The  Tribune  " 
a  stock  association  ?  These  men  had  a  right  to  reply, 
as  they  often  did,  "  If  this  is  the  true  principle,  and 
you  are  sincere  in  advocating  it,  Mr.  Greeley,  why  not 
try  it  yourself?  0  'Tribune'  of  the  people!  make 
the  experiment ;  practise  what  you  preach." 

This  was  an  argumentum  ad  hominem,  as  well  as  an 
argumentum  ad  rem;  and,  as  everybody  acknowledged 
Mr.  Greeley  to  be  an  honest  man,  there  seemed  to  be 
no  way  for  him  to  escape  putting  his  advice  into 
practice ;  nor,  indeed,  did  he  wish  to  escape  from  it. 

So  the  establishment  of  "  The  Tribune  "  was  valued 
at  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  divided  into  a 
hundred  shares  of  a  thousand  dollars  each.  The 
leading  men  in  each  department  of  "  The  Tribune  " 
took  shares,  and  finally  to  such  an  extent,  that 
Messrs.  Greeley  and  McElrath  owned  only  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  concern. 

23» 


270  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

This  experiment  in  the  business  of  •"  The  Tribune," 
so  far  as  is  known,  has  worked  well ;  and  thus  Mr. 
Greeley  has  united  his  preaching  with  his  practice. 

Lecturing  has,  in  these  times,  become  a  great 
business  ;  and  every  man  of  note  in  any  way  must 
try  his  hand  at  it,  —  some  because  they  think  they  can 
do  it  well,  others  because  they  are  pressed  into  the 
service.  We  rather  think  Mr.  Greeley  was  of  the 
latter  class.  In  our  opinion,  papers  are  preferable  to 
lectures.  Mr.  Greeley  has  succeeded  in  making  a 
paper  which  has  been  appreciated  by  the  public.  He 
has  also  given  many  lectures  which  have  contained 
much  information.  But  he  was  never  made  for  an 
orator.  Still  Mr.  Parton,  in  his  "  Life  of  Horace 
Greeley,"  says,  "  Some  who  value  oratory  less  than 
any  other  kind  of  labor,  and  whom  the  tricks  of  elo- 
cution offend  except  when  they  are  performed  on  the 
stage,  —  and  eveu  there  they  should  be  concealed, 
—  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  Mr.  Greeley  is, 
strictly  speaking,  one  of  the  best  speakers  of  which 
this  metropolis  can  boast." 

Mr.  Greeley  has.  been  very  frequently  called  on  to 
make  speeches  at  public  meetings  and  various  enter- 
tainments. He  has  rarely  declined  such  a  call ;  nor 
has  he  met  it  without  saying  something  worth  being 
heard.  He  has  lectured  upon  many  subjects,  among 
which  may  be  named  the  following:  "  What  the  Sister 


ME.  GREELEY'S  VAEIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.     271 

Arts  teach  as  to  Farming,"  "  Emancipation  of  Labor," 
.fee, 

In  1850  the  Messrs.  Harper  published  a  volume  of 
Mr.  Greeley's  Lectures  and  Essays,  entitled  "  Hints 
toward  Reforms."  The  work  is  somewhat  of  a  curi- 
osity, and  never  had  a  very  large  sale,  though  some 
two  thousand  copies  were  disposed  of. 

The  title-page  of  these  "  Hints,"  <fec.,  contains 
three  quotations,  or  mottoes,  from  three  different 
authors.  The  first  is  poetical,  from  Rev.  Henry  Ware, 
as  follows  :  — 

"  Hasten  the  day,  just  Heaven  1 

Accomplish  thy  design, 
And  let  the  blessings  thou  hast  freely  given 

Freely  on  all  men  shine, 
Till  equal  rights  be  equally  enjoyed, 
And  human  power  for  human  good  employed ; 
Till  Law,  and  not  the  Sovereign,  rule  sustain, 
And  Peace  and  Virtue  undisputed  reign." 

The  second  is  from  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  is 
as  follows  :  — 

"  Listen  not  to  the  everlasting  conservative,  who  pines  and 
whines  at  every  attempt  to  drive  him  from  the  spot  where  he  has 
so  lazily  cast  his  anchor.  Every  abuse  must  be  abolished.  The 
whole  system  must  be  settled  on  the  right  basis.  Settle  it  ten 
times,  and  settle  it  many,  you  will  have  the  work  to  begin  again. 
Be  satisfied  with  nothing  but  the  complete  enfranchisement  of 
humanity,  and  the  restoration  of  man  to  the  image  of  his  God." 


272  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

The  third  one  is  from  Charles  Mackay,  and  is 
as  follows :  — 

"  Once  the  welcome  light  has  broken, 

Who  shall  say 

What  the  imagined  glories  of  the  day  ? 
What  the  evil  that  shall  perish 

In  its  ray  ? 

Aid  the  dawning,  tongue  and  pen  1 
Aid  it,  hopes  of  honest  men  1 
Aid  it,  paper  !  aid  it,  type  1 
Aid  it,  for  the  hour  is  ripe  I 
And  our  earnest  must  not  slacken 

Into  play. 
Men  of  thought,  and  men  of  action, 

Clear  the  way." 

Though  Mr.  Greeley  had  probably  written  and 
published  more  that  had  been  read  than  almost  any 
other  man  in  America,  yet,  so  far  as  I  am  apprised, 
this  was  the  first  book  ever  sent  forth  from  his  pen. 
These  lectures  and  essays  were  prepared  for  lyceums, 
young  men's  clubs  and  associations,  <fec.  ;  and  the 
author  says  in  his  preface,  "  They  were  written  in 
the  years  from  1842  to  1848  inclusive,  each  in  haste, 
to  fulfil  some  engagement  already  made,  for  which 
preparation  had  been  delayed,  under  the  pressure  of 
seeming  necessities,  to  the  latest  moment  allowable. 


MB.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.    273 

A  calling  whose  exactions  are  seldom  omitted  for  a 
day,  never  for  a  longer  period,  and  whose  require- 
ments, already  excessive,  seem  perpetually  to  expand 
and  increase,  may  well  excuse  the  distraction  of 
thought,  and  rapidity  of  composition,  which  it  renders 
inevitable.  At  no  time  has  it  seemed  practicable  to 
devote  a  whole  day,  seldom  a  full  half-day,  to  the 
production  of  any  of  the  essays.  Not  until  months 
after  the  last  of  them  was  written  did  the  idea  of 
collecting  and  printing  them  in  this  shape  suggest 
itself;  and  a  hurried  perusal  is  all  that  has  since  been 
given  them." 

The  one  grand  object  of  these  lectures  and  essays 
seems  to  be  the  improvement  and  education  of  the 
working-classes. 

He  says,  "  Why  should  those  by  whose  toil  all  com- 
forts and  luxuries  are  produced,  or  made  available, 
enjoy  so  scanty  a  share  of  them  ?  Why  should  a  man, 
able  and  eager  to  work,  ever  stand  idle  for  want  of 
employment  in  a  world  where  so  much  needful  work 
impatiently  awaits  the  doing  ?  Why  should  a  man  be 
required  to  surrender  something  of  his  independence 
in  accepting  employment  which  will  enable  him  to 
earn  by  honest  effort  the  bread  of  his  family  ?  Why 
should  the  man  who  faithfully  labors  for  another,  and 
receives  therefor  less  than  the  product  of  his  labor, 
be  currently  held  the  obliged  party,  rather  than  he 


274  LIFE  OF  HOEACE   GREELEY. 

who  buys  the  work,  and  makes  a  good  bargain  of  it  ? 
In  short,  why  should  speculation  and  scheming  ride 
so  jauntily  in  their  carriages,  splashing  honest  work  as 
it  trudges  humbly  and  wearily  by  on  foot  ?  " 

These  are  questions  of  common  sense,  and  show  how 
deeply  interested  Horace  Greeley  has  been  in  the  wel- 
fare of  working-men,  himself  emphatically  a  working- 
man  all  his  life.  They  were  discussed  years  ago  by  the 
"  philosopher,"  as  he  has  been  sometimes  ironically 
called,  as  though  he  plainly  foresaw  all  the  movements 
of  the  laboring-classes  in  our  day.  All  must  admit 
Mr.  Greeley  had  a  heart  fully  sympathizing  with  this 
numerous  class  in  the  community,  and  a  prescience 
far  outstripping  most  of  his  coadjutors.  But,  as  pre- 
viously said,  the  object  of  this  book  is  not  to  unduly 
exalt  the  man,  but  to  show  him  as  he  has  been  and 
now  is. 

Mr.  Greeley  admits  that  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the 
progress  and  elevation  of  the  working-man  is  to  be 
found  in  himself,  —  in  his  own  ignorance,  improvidence, 
and  want  of  temperance.  Thus  he  talks  about  the 
man  who  will  be  successful  in  business,  even  when  he 
is  a  boy :  "  A  keen  observer  could  have  picked  him  out 
from  among  his  schoolfellows,  and  said,  '  Here  is  the 
lad  who  will  die  a  bank-president,  owning  factories, 
and  blocks  of  stores.'  Trace  his  history  closely,  and 
you  find  that  in  his  boyhood  he  was  provident  and 


ME.  GEEELEY'S  VAEIETY  OF  CHAEACTEES.    275 

frugal ;  that  he  shunned  expense  and  dissipation ; 
that  he  feasted  and  quaffed  seldom,  unless  at  others' 
cost ;  that  he  was  rarely  seen  at  balls  or  frolics ; 
that  he  was  diligent  in  study  and  in  business ;  that 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  do  an  uncomfortable  job  if  it 
bade  fair  to  be  profitable  ;  that  he  husbanded  his 
hours,  and  made  each  count  one,  either  in  earning,  or 
in  preparing  to  work  efficiently." 

Thus  he  shows  how  a  laboring-man  makes  him- 
self. 

So  I  might  go  on  and  exhibit  his  advice  to  the 
educated,  —  how  they  might  create  around  them  a  hal- 
lowed atmospbere  for  the  ignorant ;  what  an  example 
they  might  set  (as  some  do)  of  morals  and  refined 
manners,  &c. 

So,  did  space  allow,  I  might  show  Horace  Greeley 
as  a  statesman,  a  farmer,  a  philanthropist ;  but  the 
limits  prescribed  to  tliis  volume  will  not  permit  it. 

A  few  words  may  be  added  here  respecting  him  as 
a  man  of  letters.  We  have  referred  to  his  first  book 
as  an  author.  He  made  an  overland  journey  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  1859,  of  which  he  gave 
a  full  account  in  "  The  Tribune."  It  was,  indeed,  a 
wonderful  exploring  tour ;  and  any  one,  even  now, 
must  be  greatly  instructed,  as  well  as  amused,  in  reading 
his  descriptions  of  what  he  saw  and  heard.  We  give  a 
single  extract,  —  a  description  of  the  trees  of  Mariposa, 


276  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

which  he  regarded  as  larger  than  those  of  Cala- 
veras : — 

"  We  went  up  to  the  Mariposa  trees  early  next 
morning.  The  trail  crosses  a  meadow  of  most  luxu- 
riant wild  grass,  then  strikes  eastward  up  the  hills, 
and  rises  almost  steadily,  but  in  the  main  not  steeply, 
for  five  miles,  when  it  enters  and  ends  in  a  slight  de- 
pression or  valley,  nearly  on  the  top  of  this  particular 
mountain,  where  the  big  trees  have  been  quietly  nestled 
for  I  dare  not  say  how  many  thousand  years. 

"  That  they  were  of  very  substantial  size  when  David 
danced  before  the  ark,  when  Solomon  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  the  temple,  when  Theseus  ruled  in  Athens, 
when  JEneas  fled  from  the  burning  wreck  of  van- 
quished Troy,  wh«n  Sesostris  led  his  victorious  Egyp- 
tians into  the  heart  of  Asia,  I  have  no  manner  of  doubt. 
The  big  trees,  of  course,  do  not  stand  alone  :  I  appre- 
hend that  they  could  not  stand  at  present,  in  view  of  the 
very  moderate  depth  at  which  they  are  anchored  to 
the  earth. 

"  Had  they  stood  on  an  unsheltered  mountain-top,  or 
even  an  exposed  hillside,  they  would  doubtless  have 
been  prostrated — as,  I  presume,  thousands  like  them 
were  prostrated  —  by  the  hurricanes  of  centuries  before 
Christ's  advent ;  but  the  localities  of  these,  though 
probably  two  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the 
South  Merced,  and  some  four  thousand  five  hundred 


MR.  GBEELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.   277 

above  the  sea,  are  sheltered  and  tranquil,  though  several 
of  these  trees  have  manifestly  fallen  within  the.  present 
century.  Unquestionably  they  are  past  their  prime  ; 
though  to  none  more  than  to  them  is  applicable  the 
complimentary  characterization  of '  a  green  old  age.'  " 

A  sketch  of  the  life  and  career  of  Horace  Greeley 
has  now  passed  before  us.  It  has  not  been  the  object 
of  the  compiler  (for  the  work  necessarily  could  be  little 
more  than  a  compilation)  to  applaud  and  exalt  him 
above  measure ;  but  as,  since  his  nomination  for  the 
presidency,  men,  artists,  editors,  public  officers,  and 
those  in  high  places,  have  descended  to  ridicule, 
scandalize,  and  vilify  the  former  good  name  and 
blameless  character  of  Horace  Greeley,  we  cannot 
close  this  sketch  of  his  life  without  bringing  fairly 
before  the  reader  the  obligations  we  are  under  to  this 
man.  It  is  sadly  to  be  regretted  that  no  man  can  be 
nominated  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States 
without  being  pounced  upon  and  covered  with  mud 
by  those  of  less  talent  and  honor  than  he.  It  was 
well  said  of  the  bully  Rust,  who  attacked  and  beat 
Mr.  Greeley  during  his  congressional  term,  "  The 
man  who  would  strike  Horace  Greeley  would  strike 
his  mother :  "  so  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  who  would 
vilify  Horace  Greeley  would  not  hesitate  to  degrade 
Washington  or  Lincoln.  On  this  point  we  cannot  do 

24 


278  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

better  than  quote  the  following  from  one  of  this  pro- 
fession,—the  editor  of  "  The  Telegraph"  of  Phila- 
delphia :  — 

"  We  all  know  the  record  of  his  life,  and  that  from 
the  hour  that  he  first  went  to  New  York  a  penniless, 
friendless  boy,  eager  to  do  a  man's  work  in  the  world, 
unto  this  day,  when  he  is  rich,  famous,  honored,  no 
one  has  ever  truly  uttered  a  single  word  against  his 
truth  or  his  honesty.  Last  of  all  Americans  should 
Mr.  Nast's  pencil  of  scurrility  be  pointed  for  him ; 
last  of  all  should  a  newspaper  editor  or  artist  aid  to 
degrade  him :  for  to  him,  more  than  to  any  or  all 
others,  are  newspaper  men  and  the  people  indebted 
for  the  highest,  noblest,  purest  type  of  newspaper 
excellence  that  this  country  has  ever  known. 

"  In  all  the  records  of  American  journalism,  there 
is  no  name  that  shines  with  such  true  and  steady 
light  as  that  of  Horace  Greeley.  '  Theoretical '  he  is 
called,  and  '  visionary.'  Is  '  The  New- York  Tribune  ' 
a  theory  or  a  vision  ?  That  is  the  work  of  his  life ; 
the  daily  business  of  all  his  honorable,  useful  years. 
Slavery  is  dead  :  the  theories  of  '  The  Tribune  '  edu- 
cated the  people  to  kill  slavery.  The  Republican 
party  is  the  party  that  saved  the  country  :  '  The 
Tribune  '  created  the  Republican  party.  Ask  editors 
what  its  editorial  management  under  Horace  Greeley 
has  been,  and  they  reply,  *  As  nearly  perfect  as  it 


MR.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.   279 

could  be  made.'  Ask  printers  what  its  mechanical 
management  and  equipment  are,  and  they  answer, 
'  Matchless.' 

"  '  Theoretical '  ?  Yes :  Horace  Greeley  has  always 
been  theoretical ;  for  there  never  has  been  an  improve- 
ment suggested  to  him  for  making  newspapers  more 
valuable  to  the  people  that  Horace  Greeley  has  not 
tested  ;  not  one  of  real  value  that  he  has  not  adopted. 
It  is  a  foul  bird  that  soils  its  own  nest,  and  it  is  an 
abject  newspaper  man  indeed  who  throws  dirt  upon 
the  foremost  in  America,  —  upon  the  one  who  has  done 
the  most  to  make  editing  of  a  newspaper  the  noblest 
work  that  any  of  us  ever  set  to  do.  There  is  not  one 
of  us  who  can  attempt  to  degrade  Horace  Greeley 
without  degrading  himself;  not  one  who  can  disgrace 
him  without  disgracing  his  profession." 

Everybody  says  Horace  Greeley  is  honest ;  and  no 
less  a  man  than  the  poet  Whittier,  who  has  had  a 
lifelong  acquaintance  with  him,  says,  "  There  are  no 
reasons  of  a  moral  or  intellectual  character  why  he 
should  not  be  elected  president."  Will  any  one  tell 
us  what  reasons,  then,  can  be  adduced  against  his 
being  chosen  to  fill  that  important  station  ? 

He  is  honest :  then  he  will  oppose  stealing  in  all  its 
multifarious  phases.  He  will  oppose  bribery  and 
corruption,  which,  to  say  the  least,  have  appeared 
sometimes  in  our  government.  If,  as  Whittier  says, 


280  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

he  is  intellectually  qualified,  he  will  know  sufficient 
not  to  bestow  offices  upon  men  totally  unqualified  to 
fill  them. 

Honesty  and  intellectuality  will  lead  him  to  oppose 
a  standing  army  in  time  of  peace ;  to  withstand 
military  and  railroad  rings,  and  all  other  rings  that 
tend  to  swindle  the  people. 

Honesty  and  intellect  combined  will  teach  him 
better  than  to  put  all  his  relations,  and  those  of  his 
wife  too,  into  government  offices.  He  will  not  show 
the  white  feather  when  John  Bull  begins  to  bluster 
about  "  The  Alabama  "  or  any  other  claims.  He  will 
not  proscribe  men  for  holding  political  opinions 
contrary  to  his  own,  nor  consider  our  greatest  states- 
men disqualified  for  high  positions  because  they  may 
not  fall  in  with  his  peculiar  notions  on  some  favorite 
plan  of  his  own.  He  is  in  favor  of  putting  honest 
men  into  office.  He  is  in  favor  of  peace  ;  nor  is  he 
one  of  those  that  "  bite  with  their  teeth,  and  cry 
peace  "  with  their  lips.  As  he  is  not  a  military  char- 
acter, he  is  in  favor  of  the  civil  forms  superseding 
the  military.  He  is  in  favor  of  giving  every  State  its 
just  right  under  the  Constitution  of  the  nation.  He 
is  in  favor  of  universal  suffrage,  universal  amnesty, 
and  universally  allowing  men  to  vote  as  they  please. 
He  is  in  favor  of  the  one-term  presidency,  —  that  a 
president  shall  not  employ  his  first  four  years  in 


MR.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.    281 

electioneering  for  a  second  election.  He  is  in  favor 
of  the  laboring-classes,  as  one  must  necessarily  be 
who  has  worked  his  own  way  up  from  that  of  a  poor 
boy  to  his  present  high  and  honorable  condition  in 
life.  By  his  own  iron  will  and  his  indomitable 
industry  he  mastered  poverty  and  adversity,  as  Frank- 
lin of  the  same  craft  did,  till  he  has  placed  himself  iii 
honorable  and  independent  circumstances.  He  is  in 
favor  of  our  republican  institutions ;  and,  while  he 
stands  on  an  advanced  Republican  platform,  it  is  no 
disparagement  to  him  that  the  Democracy  has  adopted 
the  same,  and  selected  him,  as  did  the  Republicans, 
as  their  leader,  and  to  be  the  next  president  of  the 
United  States  of  America. 

A  few  specimens  may  be  given  from  gentlemen  of 
letters,  of  high  religious  character,  of  editors,  and  even 
of  office-holders,  who  have  known  Horace  Greeley,  and 
labored  with  him  many  years  in  the  editorial  profession 
and  in  various  other  walks  of  life. 

Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  who  has  lived  and  labored  side 
by  side  with  Horace  Greeley  in  the  city,  in  "  The 
Liberal  Christian  "  says, "  At  home  in  city  and  country, 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  continent ;  with  the  qualities 
of  the  Yankee,  —  simple  as  shrewd,  and  shrewd  as 
simple  ;  good-natured  as  a  healthy  child,  and  passion- 
ate as  the  same  on  occasions  ;  a  wide  lover  of  his 
species,  and  a  tremendous  hater  of  many  of  its  individ- 

24* 


282  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

ual  varieties ;  open  as  the  day,  and  inscrutable  as  the 
night ;  devoted  to  principle  when  not  absorbed  by 
measures  ;  strong  as  a  giant  when  some  political 
Delilah  has  not  shorn  his  locks  in  her  lap ;  so  pure 
that  dirt  won't  stick  to  him,  which  makes  him  a  little 
too  free  in  going  into  it ;  not  to  be  known  by  his 
associates,  because  quite  superior  to  many  of  them ; 
capable  of  a  superhuman  frankness  and  a  Trappian 
silence,  —  certainly  America  finds  in  him  at  tins  mo- 
ment its  most  characteristic  representative.  He  is  the 
American  par  excellence" 

Take  the  following  from  the  testimony  of  W.  E. 
Robinson  in  an  address  from  a  speech  in  Brooklyn, 
N.Y. :  — 

"  Over  thirty  years  ago,  while  in  Yale  College,  it 
was  my  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  with 
Horace  Greeley.  It  was  before  '  The  Tribune '  was 
started,  and  while  he  was  editing  '  The  New-Yorker' 
and  '  Log-Cabin.'  Soon  after  '  The  Tribune  '  was  es- 
tablished, I  became  its  Washington  correspondent,  and 
was  connected  with  it  as  correspondent  and  assistant 
editor  more  than  ten  years.  After  ceasing  to  be  his  cor- 
respondent and  assistant,  I  was  for  nearly  ten  years  his 
lawyer.  I  saw  much  of  him,  had  much  correspondence 
with  him,  and  ought  to  know  him  well,  and  be  able  to 
give  a  proper  estimate  of  his  character ;  and  such  an 
estimate  as  I  am  able  to  give  I  shall  submit  to  you,  my 
neighbors  and  friends,  in  all  truth  and  sincerity. 


MB.  GREELEY'S  VABIETY  OP  CHARACTERS.    283 

"  Some  things  can  be  said  of  Horace  Greeley  which 
no  libeller  even  dare  question.  He  is  a  natural  demo- 
cratic republican  of  the  best  type.  Burns  was  not  a 
truer  democrat,  nor  was  Jefferson  a  purer  republican. 
I  venture  to  say  that  no  man  could  detect  a  change  in 
his  countenance,  whether  a  duke  asked  him  for  infor- 
mation, or  an  outcast  solicited  alms.  With  him,  above 
all  men  I  ever  knew,  rank  and  wealth  are  nothing : 
manhood  is  the  gold,  and  mind  the  true  nobility.  He 
is  the  ablest  writer  and  chief  journalist  among  the  giant 
intellects  of  our  day.  His  life  is  one  of  singular  purity 
and  simplicity.  He  never  forgets  his  friends.  His 
word  once  given,  and  you  can  stake  your  life  on  its 
performance ;  and  his  monogram,  written  on  his  face 
and  in  his  heart  by  the  Almighty,  and  inscribed  by 
himself  on  every  step  of  his  career  from  the  dawn  of 
early  childhood  to  the  noon  of  honored  manhood,  is 
honesty.  His  charity  is  unbounded.  I  can  convey  no 
idea  of  this  trait  of  his  character.  Hour  after  hour, 
and  daily,  I  have  seen  the  destitute  and  heart-broken  of 
both  sexes,  tlie  unfortunate  outcasts  and  wanderers 
from  all  climes  and  all  classes,  invade  the  ever-open 
door  of  his  charity ;  and  never  have  I  seen  any  one 
*  sent  empty  away '  while  he  had  a  shilling  or  could 
borrow  one.  I  often  looked  on  with  amazement, 
knowing  his  antipathy  to  whiskey  and  tobacco,  as  I 
have  seen  some  poor  creature,  whom  he  had  known  in 


284  LIFE  OF  HOBACE  GREELEY. 

earlier  days,  staggering  to  his  desk,  and  asking  for  relief, 
which  was  not  denied,  even  under  the  certainty  that  it 
would  be  left  in  the  first  bar-room.  I  have  seen  his 
hat  full  of  protested  notes  on  which  he  had  lent  money  ; 
and  when,  as  his  lawyer,  I  have  remonstrated  with  him 
for  taking  such  paper,  he  usually  replied  that  any  one 
would  lend  on  good  paper.  It  was  those  that  could 
not  borrow  elsewhere,  and  on  paper  negotiable  nowhere, 
that  complimented  him  with  their  business.  He  is  a 
singularly  pure  and  modest  man.  In  thirty  years  of 
pretty  intimate  acquaintance,  I  never  heard  him  use  a 
word  that  would  bring  the  slightest  flutter  of  crimson 
to  the  purest  cheek  that  womanhood  ever  unveiled  to 
society.  I  do  not  believe  that  he  ever  told  or  could  be 
induced  to  listen  to  a  vulgar  story.  And  this  almost 
superhuman  purity  of  character  is  perhaps  what  has 
made  him  such  a  favorite  among  talented  and  refined 
women.  For,  although  woman  was  the  cause  of  our 
losing  Eden,  she  brought  with  her  more  than  man  did 
of  its  purity ;  and  its  loss  would  have  been  intolerable 
if  Adam  had  failed  to  bring  her  with  him. 

"  But  there  are  things  in  his  character  about  which 
people  differ,  or  pretend  to  differ.  Even  those  who 
concede  to  him  the  great  virtues  I  have  mentioned 
pretend  to  deprecate  his  election  to  the  presidency 
through  fear  that  he  lacks  sound  judgment,  executive 
ability,  financial  skill,  and  discrimination  of  character. 


ME.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.    285 

How  wofully  they  are  mistaken  who  seem  to  see  the 
shadow  of  those  suspicious  his  election  and  brilliant 
administration  will  show.  I  have  had  some  experience 
among  public  men  for  many  years  at  Washington  ;  I 
have  known  intimately  most  of  the  illustrious  Ameri- 
can statesmen  of  the  second  generation,  —  Clay, 
Webster,- Calhoun,  Benton,  Crittenden,  Mangum,  and 
others ;  and  I  never  knew  any  one  whose  judgment 
was  more  keen  and  unerring,  whose  ideas  of  executive 
management  were  more  enlarged  and  liberal,  whose 
knowledge  of  finance  and  political  economy  was  clearer 
or  more  extensive,  and  whose  estimate  of  character  was 
more  quick  and  comprehensive  :  and,  if  we  honestly 
weigh  his  character  against  that  of  the  more  and  less 
illustrious  of  those  who  have  filled  the  executive  chair, 
we  shall  discover  in  him  the  honesty  of  Washington, 
the  brain  of  Jefferson,  the  firmness  of  Jackson,  and 
the  wisdom  of  half  a  dozen  of  our  later  presidents  ; 
while,  as  a  writer,  he  is  far  superior  to  them  all.  It 
will  be  something  to  boast  of  to  see  once  more  in 
the  chair  of  Washington  an  honest  and.  an  able  man. 
It  will  be  something  to  boast  of,  that,  at  the  close  of 
the  first  century  of  our  government,  the  ablest  writer 
that  ever  filled  the  executive  chair  was  elected  by  our 
votes.  It  will  be  a  pleasure  worth  a  century's  waiting 
to  read  his  messages. 

"  There  is  a  stubborn  fear  among  certain  nervous 


286  LIFE  OF   HORACE   GREELEY. 

money-bags  that  things  are  going  to  ruin  if  Greeley  is 
elected  ;  and  this  is  said  by  men  who  have  felt  proud 
of  having  voted  for  Harrison,  Polk,  Lincoln,  and  Grant. 
It  is  not  my  cue  to  say  any  thing  against  Gen.  Grant ; 
I  think  the  country  owes  him  too  much  to  hear  with 
pleasure  any  thing  against  him  personally :  but  what 
was  he  when  taken  from  his  Missouri  tannery,  in 
knowledge  and  character,  compared  with  Horace 
Greeley  ?  What  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  cracking 
jokes  on  Western  circuits,  compared  with  Horace 
Greeley,  except  what  he  had  learned,  as  I  have  often 
heard  him  acknowledge,  from  Mr.  Greeley's  paper  ? 
What  was  Gen.  Taylor,  or  James  K.  Polk,  or  Gen. 
Harrison,  or  all  of  them  put  together,  for  ability,  states- 
manship, and  character,  before  they  were  elected,  as 
compared  with  Horace  Greeley  ?  Clay,  Calhoun, 
Benton,  and  Webster  could  not  get  the  chair  which 
Harrison,  Polk,  and  Tyler  filled;  and,  when  Lincoln 
was  nominated,  the  same  sneers  were  common  against 
him  that  now  salute  Mr.  Greeley.  His  boots  and  dress 
and  walk  and  dignity  were  no  better  than  Greeley's. 
He  was  a  rail-splitter,  as  Mr.  Greeley  is  a  wood-chopper ; 
but,  for  all  that,  what  rank  does  he  hold  among  our 
recent  presidents  ?  Second  only  to  that  with  which 
Mr.  Greeley  will  retire  in  1877. 

"  Do  these  men,  who  object  to  him  as  wanting  in 
ability,  not  know  that  he  has  taught  most  of  our  living 


ME.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OP  CHARACTERS.  287 

statesmen  what  they  know  ?  But,  while  knowledge  is 
power,  honesty  is  the  craving  of  the  nation's  heart ; 
and  in  no  one  so  much  as  in  Mr.  Greeley  can  that 
craving  be  gratified.  He  is  thoroughly  upright  and 
ingrained,  and  stubbornly  honest.  There  is  not  gold 
enough  in  California  nor  stamps  enough  in  the  national 
currency  to  bribe  him  to  do  a  dishonest  act.  You 
could  as  easily  drive  the  most  stubborn  mule  that  ever 
braced  his  foot  against  his  driver's  mandate  as  to  drive 
Mr.  Greeley  into  the  path  way  which  leads  to  dishon- 
esty." 

I  here  adduce  the  letter  of  a  lifelong  friend  of  Mr. 
Greeley  ;  one  well  known  in  the  community,  and  of 
irreproachable  character  and  unimpeachable  integ- 
rity ;  moreover,  one  who  has  labored  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  Mr.  Greeley  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
in  the  autislavery  cause  :  — 

WHAT  THE   QUAKER  POET  THINKS  OF  THE 
PHILOSOPHER. 

The  following  letter  from  Mr.  John  G.  Whittier 
appeared  in  "  The  Springfield  Republican  :  "  — 

AMESBURT,  10th  5th  mo.,  1872. 
EDWIN  MORTON,  Esq.,  Boston. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Thy  note  of  to-day  is  just  received. 
In  replying  to  it,  I  must  premise  that  I  have  no  inten- 
tion, at  this  time,  of  entering  into  the  question  of  the 


288  LIFE  OP  HORACE  GBEELEY. 

presidency,  further  than  to  say  that  the  recent  com- 
plications of  this  question  may  be  largely  attributed 
to  an  attempt  to  forbid  the  right  of  choice  of  candi- 
dates to  Republicans  in  advance  of  the  nominating 
convention,  and  to  the  deliberate  insult  to  the  friends 
of  freedom  in  the  treatment  of  Senator  Sumner.  As 
regards  the  subject  of  thy  inquiry,  I  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  saying  that  I  place  a  very  high  estimate  upon 
the  character,  moral  and  intellectual,  of  Horace 
Greeley.  He  is  a  man  of  whom  his  countrymen, 
irrespective  of  politics,  may  well  be  proud.  He  has 
built  up  in  his  sixty  years  a  noble  reputation.  The 
poor  attempts  to  ridicule  him,  and  to  underrate  his 
eminent  ability,  at  the  present  time,  on  the  part  of 
some  of  our  Republican  papers,  are  best  answered  by 
the  eulogiums  bestowed  upon  him  in  their  own 
columns  heretofore.  He  can  well  afford  to  smile  at 
the  feeble  arrows  of  sarcasm  which  are  expended  on 
his  "  white  great-coat,"  and  fail  to  reach  the  man 
beneath  it.  Personally  he  is  the  most  popular  man 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  very  possible  there  may 
be  good  reasons  why  he  should  not  be  president ;  but 
they  are  not  to  be  found  in  his  moral  character,  his 
intellect,  his  principles,  his  purposes,  his  knowledge 
of  the  interests  and  resources  of  the  country.  I 
have  no  wish,  as  I  have  no  reason,  to  withhold  my 
good  opinion  of  an  old  friend  at  a  time  when  so 


MR.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.    289 


many  Republicans  deem  it  advisable,  as  a  party  expe- 
dient, to  assail  him  personally  as  well  as  politically. 
I  am  very  truly  tby  friend, 

JOHN  G.  WHITTIER. 

There  are  many  erroneous  opinions  abroad  respecting 
Horace  Greeley.  Some  of  them  are,  we  doubt  not, 
seriously  believed  ;  and  some,  it  is  feared,  are  stated  to 
draw  votes  from  him  in  the  coming  election. 

He  is  said  to  be  "  careless  in  his  dress,"  and  "  wear- 
ing his  pants  over  one  boot  and  under  the  other,"  with 
much  more  of  the  same  sort.  The  writer  saw  him  in 
his  recent  visit  to  the  Jubilee  in  Boston,  and  can  testify 
that  he  has  not  inspected  a  more  cleanly  and  decent- 
ly dressed  man  for  many  years ;  and  he  has  seen  a  few 
within  that  time.  "  The  Cincinnati  Commercial " 
says  of  him,  — 

"  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Greeley  is  a  very  well-dressed  man. 
His  linen  is  faultless  ;  and,  while  his  cravat-tie  is  never 
elaborate,  it  is  usually  in  the  right  place.  He  attends 
dinner-parties  frequently,  wearing  a  dress-coat ;  and  in 
the  neatness  of  his  hands  and  feet  he  is  noticeable. 
Strange  as  it  may  appear,  his  boots  are  smartly  pol- 
ished ;  and  his  hands,  notwithstanding  his  wood-chop- 
ping performances,  are  small  and  white,  and  in  form 
symmetrical.  Many  a  fine  lady  would  be  proud  to 
have  hands  of  their  whiteness  and  taper  fingers." 

25 


290  LIFE   OF   HORACE  GREELEY. 

It  is  said  he  is  a  "  vegetarian ;  don't  eat  meat." 
This,  also,  is  untrue,  as  has  been  seen  in  his  own  ac- 
count of  Grahamism.  He  is  not  a  glutton,  but  par- 
takes of  all  kinds  of  wholesome  food.  He  is  not  as 
corpulent  and  ridiculously  rotund  as  Nast  (rather 
Nasty)  caricatures  him  as  being,  but  is  of  fair  and 
liberal  development  for  a  man  of  his  years. 

He  is  not  a  "  wine-bibber."  There  is  no  doubt 
about  it  that  he  is  a  strict  temperance  man.  He  never, 
under  any  circumstances,  tastes  intoxicating  liquor ; 
enjoys  his  glass  of  water  when  the  wine  flows ;  and 
dissipates  in  a  cup  of  tea.  Tobacco  he  detests ;  but, 
being  a  philosopher,  lie  sometimes  sits  in  a  cloud  of 
tobacco-smoke  with  complacency. 

It  is  charged  that  Greeley,  after  telling  the  South  to 
go,  shouted,  "  On  to  Richmond  !  "  He  did  neither  the 
one  thing  nor  the  other.  When  hostilities  were 
commenced  by  the  bombardment  of  a  United-States 
fort  by  order  of  the  provisional  government  of  se- 
ceded and  confederated  States,  those  who  had  striven 
most  earnestly  for  peace,  and  who  had  been  willing  to 
make  the  greatest  sacrifices  to  preserve  it,  were  not 
the  least  energetic  in  urging  the  prosecution  of  the 
war.  The  words  "  On  to  Richmond  "  were  not  Mr. 
Greeley's,  but  Mr.  Dana's  ;  and  they  were  right  words. 
The  imbecility  that  divided  our  army,  and  held  half 
of 'it  loitering  at  Harper's  Ferry  while  the  other  half 


MB.  GBEELEY'S  VABIETY  OF  CHABACTEBS.    291 

was  beaten  at  Bull  Run  by  the  whole  force  of  the  con- 
federates, does  not  prove  that  those  who  favored  a  de- 
cided march  upon  Richmond  at  that  time  were  wrong. 
The  rebel  veteran  army  that  afterwards  contested  for 
years  the  road  to  Richmond  was  not  then  in  existence. 
At  Bull  Run  the  main  question  was,  which  raw  army 
would  run  first ;  and  the  flight  happened  to  be  toward 
Washington  rather  than  toward  Richmond.  If  the 
army  fooled  away  under  Patterson  had  appeared  on 
Beauregard's  flank,  the  movement  would  have  been 
"  on  to  Richmond,"  sure  enough. 

He  is  said  to  be  cross  and  quarrelsome,  and  rude  in 
his  manners.  I  can  bear  testimony  to  the  falsehood 
of  such  a  statement.  He  is  a  genial,  companionable 
gentleman.  He  may  be  sharp  upon  loafers  who  seek 
to  waste  his  time  upon  nothing  of  moment,  especially 
where  Jie  has  an  editorial  half  done,  and  the  printer  is 
waiting  for  the  residue.  In  some  such  case,  he  may 
have  "  answered  a  fool  according  to  his  folly  ; "  and 
what  wise  editor  would  not  do  the  same  ?  Those 
who  are  specially  troubled  about  his  manners  may  con- 
trast his  bearing  with  that  of  another  gentleman  who 
had  "  the  freedom  of  our  city  "  at  the  late  Jubilee,  and 
take  their  choice. 

It  has  been  said  that  Greeley,  in  a  pusillanimous 
way,  begged  for  peace,  and  embarrassed  President 
Lincoln.  The  truth  is,  in  that  connection  he  per- 


292  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

formed  a  public  service  of  value ;  and,  if  greater  at- 
tention had  been  paid  him  by  Lincoln,  he  would  have 
done  better  for  the  country.  Here  is  the  case  :  The 
rebels  assumed  to  be  for  peace.  All  they  wanted,  it 
will  be  remembered,  was  to  be  let  alone.  The  North- 
ern sympathizers  with  the  Rebellion  cried,  "  Peace, 
peace,  when  there  was  no  peace  ;  "  and  their  vocifera- 
tion was,  that  the  war  had  failed  to  restore  the  Union, 
and  that  we  must  try  and  restore  it  by  peaceful 
measures. 

At  this  juncture  there  was  the  news  that  persons 
authorized  to  propose  terms  of  peace  were  on  the 
borders.  Greeley,  wisely  and  well,  advised  the  presi- 
dent that  here  was  an  opportunity  that  must  not  be 
neglected.  The  thing  to  do  was  to  see  whether  the 
proposed  or  self-styled  negotiators  had  authority,  and 
what  they  wanted.  Greeley  knew,  and  Lincoln  knew, 
that  the  confederates  were  unwilling  to  negotiate  for 
peace  on  the  basis  of  the  restoration  of  the  Union.  It 
was  quite  certain  that  the  terms  they  would  propose 
must  be  wholly  inadmissible.  Very  well.  Undoubted 
evidence  that  there  could  be  no  tolerable  peace,  no 
peace  on  the  basis  of  the  Union,  would  practically 
unite  the  North.  The  fangs  of  the  copperheads  would 
be  at  once  drawn.  Mr.  Greeley  insisted  that  so  great 
an  opportunity  should  not  be  thrown  away ;  and  he 
was  clearly  right. 


MB.  GREELEY'S  VARIETY  OP  CHARACTERS.    293 

Well,  Greeley  proposed  "  to  buy  the  slaves,- and  pay 
four  hundred  million  dollars  for  their  emancipation." 
If  this  were  so,  it  showed  his  wisdom  and  foresight ; 
for,  if  his  plan  had  been  adopted,  we  should  have 
saved  six  hundred  million  dollars  (for  the  war  cost  a 
billion)  ;  and  thousands  of  widows  and  orphans  would 
have  blessed  Horace  Greeley  to  their  dying-day. 

Well,  Greeley  bailed  Jeff.  Davis :  so  he  did ;  and 
Greeley  ought  to  be  "  kilt "  for  it ;  while  Gerritt  Smith, 
who  did  the  same,  was  a  fit  man  to  go  to  Philadelphia 
to  renominate  Grant.  It  was  an  old  Roman  maxim, 
Tittilla  me,  tittillabo  te, — "Tickle  me,  and  I'll  tickle 
you."  No  matter  what  any  man  has  ever  done,  if  he 
will  now  tickle  Grant,  and  stickle  for  him.  Yes,  Gree- 
ley signed  Jeff.  Davis's  bond.  Why  should  he  not  ? 
This  great  public  criminal,  with  hands  reeking  with 
the  blood  of  half  a  million  men,  was  admitted  to  bail 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  with  the 
full  approval  of  the  president  and  his  cabinet.  It  was 
notorious  that  the  administration  did  not  intend  to  try 
him,  or  they  never  would  have  allowed  bail  for  this 
wholesale  murderer,  while  it  is  uniformly  denied  to 
the  most  ignorant  wretch  who  takes  a  single  life.  If 
any  man  in  the  country  is  responsible  for  the  bailing 
of  Jeff.  Davis,  it  is  Ulysses  S.  Grant ;  for  he,  by  dis- 
charging on  parole  Lee  and  his  compeers  in  crime, 
and  by  insisting  that  the  faith  of  the  country  was 

25* 


294  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

pledged  to  hold  them  harmless,  rendered  it  impossible 
that  any  of  the  traitors  should  be  punished.  Besides, 
the  government,  by  exchanging  prisoners,  acknowl- 
edged the  South  to  be  belligerents;  and  to  have 
hung  or  shot  Davis  after  his  capture  would  have  been 
a  violation  of  international  law. 

Well,  there  must  be  a  cat  under  that  white  heap : 
therefore  all  the  rebels  are  going  to  vote  for  Greeley. 
Are  they  ?  Where  is  Henry  A.  Wise,  who  hung  John 
Brown  ;  Mosby,  the  vilest  leader  of  a  band  of  cut- 
throats ;  Longstreet,  and  a  hundred  others  ?  In  fact, 
if  the  Grantites  don't  lie,  all  the  South,  blacks  and 
whites  both,  are  going  for  Grant.  This  is  a  weapon 
with  two  edges. 

But  I  commenced  to  write  the  Life  of  Horace 
Greeley  by  special  request,  and  did  not  mean  to  say  a 
word  about  Grant ;  and  but  for  what  is  well  known  to 
be  palpable  falsehood  about  Greeley  would  any  refer- 
ence have  been  had  to  the  other  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  The  old  adage  should  be  remembered  by 
some  of  the  Grant  papers,  "  People  who  dwell  in 
glass  houses,"  &c. 

COMPARISON  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 
HORACE   GREELEY. 

There  were  many  things  in  common  in  the  boy- 
hood of  "Abe  Lincoln,"  our  late  martyred  and  greatly- 


MR.   GREELEY  S  VARIETY   OF   CHARACTERS.      295 

lamented  president,  and  Horace  Greeley,  the  present 
candidate  for  the  same  high  office.  Indeed,  in  some 
respects,  there  was  a  resemblance  between  Thomas 
Lincoln,  the  father  of  Abe,  and  Zaccheus  Greeley, 
the  father  of  Horace.  But  preference  must  be  given 
to  Zach  Greeley  over  Tom  Lincoln.  Both  were 
poor;  both  failed  to  pay  for  the  land  they  bought; 
both  were  rovers,  going  from  place  to  place,  and  from 
State  to  State,  —  Tom  from  Kentucky  to  Indiana 
and  Illinois,  and  Zach  from  New  Hampshire  to 
Vermont  and  Pennsylvania.  Tom  was  assisted 
greatly  by  his  son  Abe,  and  Zach  by  his  son 
Horace.  There  was  a  resemblance  between  the  spell- 
ing of  the  names  of  the  Lincoln  and  the  Greeley 
families :  the  former  was  spelled  "  Linckhorn,"  or 
"  Linckhern,"  or  "  Lincoln  :  "  the  latter  was  spelled 
"  Grely,"  "  Greale,"  "  Greele,"  and  "  Greeley." 

But  between  their  sons  Abe  and  Horace  there 
was  a  still  more  striking  resemblance.  Abe  was 
born  in  a  solitary  cabin,  on  a  desolate  spot,  —  a  little 
knoll  in  the  midst  of  a  barren  glade  on  Nolin  Creek, 
in  Kentucky,  Feb.  12,  1809. 

Abe,  when  about  eight  years  old,  dabbled  in  the 
water,  and  came  near  being  drowned  on  one  occasion 
when  attempting  to  "  coon "  on  Knob  Creek,  and 
was  saved  only  by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  John 
Duncan,  the  boy  that  was  with  him.  Quite  a  re- 


296  LIFE  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

semblance  here  between  this  and  Horace,  —  saved  by 
his  little  brother  from  a  similar  fate  in  Hubbarton 
Creek,  when  in  his  thirteenth  year. 

Abe  was  always  chiding  other  boys  for  being  cruel 
to  animals :  he  talked  against,  made  speeches  about, 
and  wrote  poetry  against,  this  practice.  Horace, 
always  tender  of  animals,  when  he  saw  a  boy  throw 
stones  (a  thing  he  never  did)  at  a  hog,  rebuked  him, 
saying,  "  Now,  you  oughtn't  to  throw  stones  at  that 
hog :  he  don't  know  any  thing." 

Abe  had  but  little  schooling.  His  first  teacher 
was  Hazel  Dorsey,  and  his  log  schoolhouse  was  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  his  father's  cabin  ;  and,  years  after,  it 
was  said,  by  those  who  survived,  that  Abe  was  even 
then  the  equal,  if  not  the  superior,  of  any  scholar 
in  his  class.  This  "  schoolhouse  was  built  of  unhewn 
logs,  and  had  holes  for  windows,  in  which  greased 
paper  served  for  glass."  Abe's  whole  schooling  was 
not  more  than  six  months ;  and  the  reason  was, 
"  it  was  no  use ;  for  he  excelled  all  his  masters :  so 
he  studied  at  home." 

How  apt  was  this  resemblance  to  Horace's  school- 
ing, in  the  teachers,  the  boy,  the  schoolhouse,  and  the 
studying  at  home  because  it  was  no  use  to  go  to 
school !  for,  said  Horace's  teacher,  "  he  knows  more 
than  I  do." 

Abe's  dress  was  as  follows :  "  He  wore  low  shoes, 


ME.  GEEELEY'S  VARIETY  OF  CHARACTERS.  297 

buckskin  breeches,  linsey-woolsey  shirt,  and  a  cap 
made  of  the  skin  of  an  opossum.  The  breeches 
clung  close  to  his  thighs  and  legs,  but  failed  by  a  large 
space  to  meet  the  tops  of  his  shoes :  twelve  inches  re- 
mained uncovered,  and  exposed  that  much  of  '  shin- 
bone,  sharp,  blue,  and  narrow.' ' 

Horace's  dress  we  have  seen  to  have  been  "  a  straw 
hat,  generally  in  a  state  of  dilapidation;  a  tow  shirt, 
never  buttoned ;  a  pair  of  trousers  made  of  the  family 
material,  very  short  in  both  legs,  but  one  shorter  than 
the  other." 

Abe  read  all  the  books  he  could  get  either  by  buy- 
ing or  borrowing.  He  borrowed  Weems's  "  Life  of 
Washington  "  of  Josiah  Crawford  ;  laid  it  where  it  got 
wet ;  and  Crawford  made  him  "  pull  fodder "  three 
days,  at  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  to  pay  for  it.  The 
books  he  read  were  "  The  Kentucky  Preceptor," 
^Esop's  "  Fables,"  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  Buiiyau's 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  "  History  of  the  United  States," 
"  Arabian  Nights,"  <fcc. 

The  books  that  Horace  found  in  his  father's  house 
were  very  few,  —  the  Bible,  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress," "  The  Confession  of  Faith."  "  The  American 
Preceptor "  was  the  first  book  he  ever  owned.  He 
read  Byron,  Shakspeare,  and  Mrs.  Hemans's  poems. 

Both  Abe  and  Horace  loved  to  fish. 

Both  were  peace-makers  among  their  schoolmates, 


298  LIFE  OF  HOEACE  GBEELEY. 

and  both  were  beloved  by  all  the  boys  of  their  ac- 
quaintance ;  and  neither  had  an  enemy. 
Both  were  politicians  from  childhood. 
Both  were  perfectly  honest.     Abe  would  do  all  he 
promised  to  do,  and  Horace  always  did  his  "  stint." 

Both  wrote  poetry.     Here  is  some  of  Abe's  when  a 
mere  boy :  — 

"  Let  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 

And  never  brought  to  mind, 
And  Jackson  be  our  president, 
And  Adams  left  behind." 

In  his  first  copy-book  Abe  wrote,  — 

"  Abraham  Lincoln,  his  hand  and  pen  : 
He  will  be  good  ;  but  God  knows  when." 

Again  he  wrote,  — 

"  Abraham  Lincoln  is  my  name, 
And  with  my  pen  I  write  the  same  : 
I'll  be  a  good  boy  ;  but  God  knows  when." 

Again, — 

"  Good  boys  who  to  their  books  apply 
Will  all  be  great  men  by  and  by." 

We  have  already  given  specimens  of  Horace's 
poetry. 

It  must  be  confessed,  that,  in  one  thing,  the  compari- 
son between  Abe  and  Horace  does  not  hold.  Abe  was 
an  excellent  penman  :  Horace  is  not  so  good  ;  though 
the  latter's  would  bear  comparison  with  that  of  the 
late  Rufus  Choate. 


ADDRESS  AND   PLATFOBM.  299 


THE  ADDRESS  AND  PLATFORM  OF  THE  LIBERAL  RE- 
PUBLICANS ASSEMBLED  IN  CONVENTION  AT  CIN- 
CINNATI, MAY  3,  1872. 

The  administration  now  in  power  has  rendered  itself  guilty  of  wanton 
disregard  of  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  of  usurping  powers  not  granted 
by  the  Constitution  :  it  has  acted  as  if  the  laws  had  binding  force  only 
for  those  who  are  governed,  and  not  for  those  who  govern.  It  has  thus 
struck  a  blow  at  the  fundamental  principles  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment and  the  liberties  of  the  citizen.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  has  openly  used  the  powers  and  opportunities  of  his  high  office 
for  the  promotion  of  personal  ends.  He  has  kept  notoriously  corrupt 
and  unworthy  men  in  places  of  power  and  responsibility,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  public  interest.  He  has  used  the  public  service  of  the 
government  as  a  machinery  of  corruption  and  personal  influence,  and 
has  interfered  with  tyrannical  arrogance  in  the  political  affairs  of  states 
and  municipalities.  He  has  rewarded  with  influential  and  lucrative 
offices  men  who  had  acquired  his  favor  by  valuable  presents  ;  thus  stim- 
ulating the  demoralization  of  our  political  life  by  his  conspicuous 
example.  He  has  shown  himself  deplorably  unequal  to  the  tasks  im- 
posed upon  him  by  the  necessities  of  the  country,  and  culpably  careless 
of  the  responsibilities  of  his  high  office.  The  partisans  of  the  adminis- 
tration, assuming  to  be  the  Republican  party,  and  controlling  its  organ- 
ization, have  attempted  to  justify  such  wrongs,  and  palliate  such  abuses, 
to  the  end  of  maintaining  partisan  ascendency.  They  have  stood  in  the 
way  of  necessary  investigations  and  indispensable  reforms,  pretending 
that  no  serious  fault  could  be  found  with  the  present  administration  of 
public  affairs ;  thus  seeking  to  blind  the  eyes  of  the  people.  They  have 
kept  alive  the  passions  and  resentments  of  the  late  civil  war,  to  use  them 
for  their  own  advantage.  They  have  resorted  to  arbitrary  measures  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  organic  law,  instead  of  appealing  to  the  better 
instincts  and  latent  patriotism  of  the  Southern  people  by  restoring  to 
them  their  rights,  the  enjoyment  of  which  is  indispensable  to  a  success- 
ful administration  of  their  local  affairs,  and  would  tend  to  revive  a 
patriotic  and  hopeful  national  feeling.  They  have  degraded  themselves 
and  the  name  of  their  party,  once  justly  entitled  to  the  confidence  of 
the  nation,  by  a  base  sycophancy  to  the  dispenser  of  executive  power 
and  patronage,  unworthy  of  republican  freemen.  They  have  sought  to 
silence  the  voice  of  just  criticism  and  stifle  the  moral  sense  of  the  people, 


300  LIFE  OF   HOEACE   GREELEY. 

and  to  subjugate  public  opinion  by  tyrannical  party-discipline.  They 
are  striving  to  maintain  themselves  in  authority  for  selfish  ends  by  an 
unscrupulous  use  of  the  power  which  rightfully  belongs  to  the  people, 
and  should  be  employed  only  in  the  service  of  the  country.  Believing 
that  an  organization  thus  led  and  controlled  can  no  longer  be  of  service 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  republic,  we  have  resolved  to  make  an  in- 
dependent appeal  to  the  sober  judgment,  conscience,  and  patriotism 
of  the  American  people.  Therefore 

We,  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  in  national  con- 
vention assembled  at  Cincinnati,  proclaim  the  following  principles  as 
essential  to  just  government :  — 

THE   PLATFORM. 

First,  We  recognize  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  and  hold 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  government,  in  its  dealings  with  the  people,  to 
mete  out  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all,  of  whatever  nativity,  race,  color, 
or  persuasion,  religious  or  political. 

Second,  We  pledge  ourselves  to  maintain  the  union  of  these  States, 
emancipation  and  enfranchisement,  and  to  oppose  any  re-opening  of  the 
questions  settled  by  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  amendments 
of  the  Constitution. 

Third,  We  demand  the  immediate  and  absolute  removal  of  all  the 
disabilities  imposed  on  account  of  the  Rebellion,  which  was  finally  sub- 
dued seven  years  ago,  believing  that  universal  amnesty  will  result  in 
complete  pacification  in  all  sections  of  the  country. 

Fourth,  Local  self-government  with  impartial  suffrage  will  guard  the 
rights  of  all  citizens  more  securely  than  any  centralized  power.  The 
public  welfare  requires  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military 
authority,  and  the  freedom  of  persons  under  the  protection  of  the  habeas 
corpus.  We  demand  for  the  individual  the  largest  liberty  consistent 
with  public  order,  for  the  state  self-government,  and  for  the  nation  a 
return  to  the  methods  of  peace  and  the  constitutional  limitations 
of  power. 

Fifth,  The  civil  service  of  the  government  has  become  a  mere  instru- 
ment of  partisan  tyranny  and  personal  ambition,  and  an  object  of  selfish 
greed.  It  is  a  scandal  and  reproach  upon  free  institutions,  and  breeds 
a  demoralization  dangerous  to  the  perpetuity  of  republican  government. 

Sixth,  We  therefore  regard  a  thorough  reform  of  the  civil  service  as 
one  of  the  most  pressing  necessities  of  the  hour ;  that  honesty,  capacity, 
and  fidelity  constitute  the  only  valid  claims  to  public  employment ; 


OFFICIAL  NOTICE.  301 

that  the  offices  of  the  government  cease  to  be  a  matter  of  arbitrary 
favoritism  and  patronage,  and  that  public  station  shall  become  again  a 
place  of  honor.  To  this  end,  it  is  imperatively  required  that  no  presi- 
dent shall  be  a  candidate  for  re-election. 

Seventh,  We  demand  a  system  of  federal  taxation  which  shall  not 
unnecessarily  interfere  with  the  industry  of  the  people,  and  which  shall 
provide  the  means  necessary  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  government 
economically  administered,  the  pensions,  the  interest  on  the  public  debt, 
and  a  moderate  annual  reduction  of  the  principal  thereof;  and,  recog- 
nizing that  there  are  in  our  midst  honest  but  irreconcilable  differences 
of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  respective  systems  of  protection  and  free 
trade,  we  remit  the  discussion  of  the  subject  to  the  people  in  their  con- 
gressional districts,  and  the  decision  of  Congress  thereon,  wholly  free 
from  executive  interference  or  dictation. 

Eighth,  The  public  credit  must  be  sacredly  maintained;  and  we 
denounce  repudiation  in  every  form  and  guise. 

Ninth,  A  speedy  return  to  specie  payment  is  demanded  alike  by  the 
highest  considerations  of  commercial  morality  and  honest  government. 

Tenth,  We  remember  with  gratitude  the  heroism  and  sacrifices  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  republic ;  and  no  act  of  ours  shall  ever  detract 
from  their  justly-earned  fame  or  the  full'rewards  of  their  patriotism. 

Eleventh,  We  are  opposed  to  all  further  grants  of  land  to  railroads  or 
other  corporations.  The  public  domain  should  be  held  sacred  to  actual 
settlers. 

Twelfth,  We  hold  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  government  in  its  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations  to  cultivate  the  friendships  of  peace  by 
treating  with  all  on  fair  and  equal  terms ;  regarding  it  alike  dishonor- 
able either  to  demand  what  is  not  right,  or  submit  to  what  is  wrong. 

Thirteenth,  For  the  promotion  and  success  of  these  vital  principles, 
and  the  support  of  the  candidates  nominated  by  this  convention,  we 
invite  and  cordially  welcome  the  co-operation  of  all  patriotic  citizens, 
without  regard  to  previous  political  affiliations. 

OFFICIAL  NOTICE  TO  MR.  GREELEY  OF  THE  LIBERAL 
REPUBLICAN  NOMINATION. 

CINCINNATI,  O.,  May  3,  1872. 

DEAR   SIB,  —  The  National  Convention  of  the  Liberal   Republi- 
cans of  the  United  States  have  instructed  the  undersigned,  president, 
vice-president,  and  secretaries  of  the  convention,  to  inform  you  that 
26 


302  LIFE   OF   HORACE   GBEELEY. 

you  have  been  nominated  as  the  candidate  of  the  Liberal  Republicans 
lor  the  presidency  of  the  United  States.  We  also  submit  to  you  the 
address  and  resolutions  unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention. 

Be  pleased  to  signify  to  us  your  acceptance  of  the  platform  and 
the  nomination;  and  believe  us 

Very  truly  yours, 

C.  SCHURZ,  President. 

GEO.  W.  JULIAN,   Vice-President. 
WILLIAM  E.  MCLEAN,  ) 

JOHN  G.  DAVIDSON,      C  Secretaries. 
J.  H.  ERODES,  ) 

Hon.  HORACE  GREELET,  New-York  City. 

MR.  GREELEY'S  REPLY. 

NEW  YORK,  May  20,  1872. 

GENTLEMEN, — I  have  chosen  not  to  acknowledge  your  letter  of 
the  3d  inst.  until  I  could  learn  how  the  work  of  your  convention  was 
received  in  all  parts  of  our  great  country,  and  judge  whether  that 
work  was  approved  and  ratified  by  the  mass  of  our  fellow-citizens. 
Their  response  from  day  to  day  has  reached  me  through  telegrams, 
letters,  and  the  comments  of  journalists,  independent  of  official  patron- 
age, and  indifferent  to  the  smiles  or  frowns  of  power.  The  number 
and  character  of  these  unconstrained,  unpurchased,  and  unsolicited 
utterances,  satisfy  me  that  the  movement,  which  found  expression  at 
Cincinnati  has  received  the  stamp  of  public  approval,  and  been  hailed 
by  a  majority  of  our  countrymen  as  the  harbinger  of  a  better  day 
for  the  republic.  I  do  not  misinterpret  this  approval  as  especially 
complimentary  to  myself,  nor  even  to  the  chivalrous  and  justly- 
esteemed  gentleman  with  whose  name  I  thank  your  convention  for 
associating  mine :  I  receive  and  welcome  it  as  a  spontaneous  and 
deserved  tribute  to  that  admirable  platform  of  principles  wherein  your 
convention  so  tersely,  so  lucidly,  so  forcibly  set  forth  the  convictions 
which  impelled  and  the  purposes  which  guided  its  course,  —  a  plat- 
form which,  casting  behind  it  the  wreck  and  rubbish  of  worn-out 
contentions  and  bygone  feuds,  embodies  in  fit  and  few  words  the 
needs  and  aspirations  of  to-day.  Though  thousands  stand  ready  to 
condemn  your  every  act,  hardly  a  syllable  of  criticism  or  cavil  has 
been  aimed  at  your  platform,  of  which  the  substance  may  be  fairly 
epitomized  as  follows  :  — 

First,    All    the   political   rights   and   franchises    which   have   been 


LETTEB   OF   ACCEPTANCE.  303 

acquired  through  our  late  bloody  convulsion  must  and  shall  be  guar- 
anteed, maintained,  enjoyed,  and  respected  evermore. 

Second,  All  the  political  rights  and  franchises  which  have  been 
lost  through  that  convulsion  should  and  must  be  promptly  restored 
and  re-established,  so  that  there  shall  be  henceforth  no  proscribed 
class  and  no  disfranchised  caste  within  the  limits  of  our  Union, 
whose  long-estranged  people  shall  re-unite  and  fraternize  upon  the 
broad  basis  of  universal  amnesty  with  impartial  suffrage. 

Third,  That,  subject  to  our  solemn  constitutional  obligation  to 
maintain  the  equal  rights  of  all  citizens,  our  policy  should  aim  at 
local  self-government,  and  not  at  centralization;  that  the  civil  author- 
ity should  be  supreme  over  the  military ;  that  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  should  be  jealously  upheld  as  the  safeguard  of  personal  free- 
dom ;  that  the  individual  citizen  should  enjoy  the  largest  liberty  con- 
sistent with  public  order;  and  that  there  shall  be  no  federal  sub- 
version of  the  internal  policy  of  the  several  states  and  municipalities, 
but  that  each  shall  be  left  to  enforce  the  rights  and  promote  the  well- 
being  of  its  inhabitants  by  such  means  as  the  judgment  of  its  own 
people  shall  prescribe. 

Fourth,  There  shall  be  a  real  and  not  merely  a  simulated  reform 
in  the  civil  service  of  the  republic;  to  which  end  it  is  indispensable 
that  the  chief  dispenser  of  its  vast  official  patronage  shall  be  shielded 
from  the  main  temptation  to  use  his  power  selfishly  by  a  rule  inex- 
orably forbidding  and  precluding  his  re-election. 

Fifth,  That  the  raising  of  revenue,  whether  by  tariff  or  otherwise, 
shall  be  recognized  and  treated  as  the  people's  immediate  business, 
to  be  shaped  and  directed  by  them  through  their  representatives  in 
Congress,  whose  action  thereon  the  president  must  neither  overrule 
by  his  veto,  attempt  to  dictate,  nor  presume  to  punish  by  bestowing 
office  only  on  those  who  agree  with  him,  or  withdrawing  it  from 
those  who  do  not. 

Sixth,  That  the  public  lands  must  be  sacredly  reserved  for  occupa- 
tion and  acquisition  by  cultivators,  and  not  recklessly  squandered  on 
the  projectors  of  railroads  for  which  our  people  have  no  present  need, 
and  the  premature  construction  of  which  is  annually  plunging  us 
into  deeper  and  deeper  abysses  of  foreign  indebtedness. 

Seventh,  That  the  achievement  of  these  grand  purposes  of  uni- 
versal beneficence  is  expected  and  sought  at  the  hands  of  all  who 
approve  them,  irrespective  of  past  affiliations. 

Eighth,  That  the  public  faith  must  at  all  hazards  be  maintained, 
and  the  national  credit  preserved. 


304  LIFE  OF  HORACE   GKEELEY. 

Ninth,  That  the  patriotic  devotedness  and  inestimable  services  of 
onr  fellow-citizens,  who,  as  soldiers  or  sailors,  upheld  the  flag  and 
maintained  the  unity  of  the  republic,  shall  ever  be  gratefully  remem- 
bered and  honorably  requited. 

These  propositions,  so  ably  and  forcibly  presented  in  the  platform 
of  your  convention,  have  already  fixed  the  attention  and  commanded 
the  assent  of  a  large  majority  of  our  countrymen,  who  joyfully  adopt 
them,  as  I  do,  as  the  basis  of  a  true,  beneficent  national  reconstruction 
of  a  new  departure  from  jealousies,  strifes,  and  hates,  which  have  no 
longer  adequate  motive  or  even  plausible  pretext,  into  an  atmosphere 
of  peace,  fraternity,  and  mutual  good-will.  In  vain  do  the  drill-ser- 
geants of  decaying  organizations  flourish  menacingly  their  truncheons, 
and  angrily  insist  that  the  files  shall  be  closed  and  straightened. 

In  vain  do  the  whippers-in  of  parties  once  vital,  because  rooted  in 
the  vital  needs  of  the  hour,  protest  against  straying  and  bolting, 
denounce  men  nowise  their  inferiors  as  traitors  and  renegades,  and 
threaten  them  with  infamy  and  ruin.  I  am  confident  that  the  Ameri- 
can people  have  already  made  your  cause  their  own,  fully  resolved 
that  their  brave  hearts  and  strong  arms  shall  bear  it  on  to  triumph. 
In  this  fact,  and  with  the  distinct  understanding,  that,  if  elected,  I 
shall  be  the  president,  not  of  a  party,  but  of  the  whole  people,  I  accept 
your  nomination,  in  the  confident  trust  that  the  masses  of  our  coun- 
trymen, north  and  south,  are  eager  to  clasp  hands  across  the  bloody 
chasm  which  has  too  long  divided  them,  forgetting  that  they  have  been 
enemies  in  the  joyful  consciousness  that  they  are  and  must  henceforth 
remain  brethren. 

Yours  gratefully, 

HORACE  GREELET. 

To  Hon.  Carl  Schurz,  President,  Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  Vice-President,  and 
Messrs.  Wm.  E.  McLean,  John  G.  Davidson,  and  J.  H.  Rhodes,  Secre- 
taries, of  the  National  Convention  of  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  the  United 
States. 


The  Democratic  Convention  which  assembled  at 
Baltimore  July  9,  1872,  adopted  the  address  and  plat- 
form of  the  Cincinnati  Convention,  and  nominated 
Horace  Greeley  as  their  candidate  for  president;  and 
he  accepted  their  nomination. 


LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  305 

An  able  writer  has  the  following  upon  Mr.  Greeley's 
letter  accepting  his  nomination  by  the  Cincinnati  Con- 
vention :  — 

"No  matter  what  Mr.  Greeley  may  have  written 
or  spoken  in  times  past  to  excite  opposition  :  his  letter 
accepting  the  Cincinnati  nomination  is  as  admirable 
and  complete  a  statement  of  the  principles  of  liberal- 
ism, and  of  the  sentiments  of  a  large  majority  of  the 
American  people,  as  could  be  expressed  upon  paper 
by  any  candidate  yet  to  be  presented.  It  is  a  pointed 
and  forcible  summary  that  he  makes  of  the  Liberal 
Republicans,  and  is  equivalent  to  a  restatement  of 
the  platform  in  the  tersest  and  most  striking  form 
possible.  No  one  whose  heart  is  set  on  reform  can 
take  exception  to  a  syllable  of  it.  It  is  not  to  be 
denied  that  the  party  which  hopes  to  achieve  victory 
in  the  coming  canvass  must  plant  itself  fixedly  on  that 
identical  platform.  Mr.  Greeley  happily  describes  it 
as  '  casting  behind  it  the  wreck  and  rubbish  of  worn- 
out  contentions  and  bygone  feuds,'  which  are  become 
the  greatest  obstructions  to  the  restoration  of  fraternal 
feelings,  and  unity  of  sentiment,  between  the  sections. 
The  candidate  of  the  Cincinnati  Convention  employs 
his  usual  vigorous  expressions  in  characterizing  the 
administration  and  its  supporters,  mincing  no  words, 
and  withholding  no  positive  opinions.  The  same 
slashing  use  of  the  English  language  appears  in  his 

26* 


306  LIFE  OF   HORACE  GKEELEY. 

letter  of  acceptance  which  would  show  in  a  leader  or 
a  speech.  He  aims  his  battery  of  expletives  at  '  the 
drill-sergeants  of  decaying  organizations,'  who,  he 
declares,  are  '  flourishing  their  truncheons  '  as  if  they 
expected  to  frighten  people  into  obedience.  His  spirit 
is  high :  his  hopes  have  not  a  wing  clipped.  He  is 
resolved,  if  fortune  shall  favor,  to  be  '  the  president, 
not  of  a  party,  but  of  the  whole  people.' 

"  The  effect  of  this  letter  upon  the  section  of  the 
Republican  party  which  uttered  its  notable  protest  at 
Cincinnati  is  yet  to  be  observed.  As  it  was  addressed 
to  them  alone,  it  will  be  particularly  interesting  to 
discover  how  it  affects  them.  They  cannot  consist- 
ently disavow  any  part  'of  its  spirit,  whatever  may  be 
their  impression  respecting  its  form.  Its  author 
comes  up  squarely  to  the  standard  of  reform  which 
was  adopted  at  Cincinnati :  no  man  could  have 
answered  to  it  more  exactly.  He  is  guilty  of  no 
exaggeration  when  he  states  that  a  large  majority  of 
the  people  assent  to  the  propositions  which  he  a 
second  time  enunciates  with  increased  force,  and 
when,  too,  he  adds  that  they  adopt  them  as  the  basis 
of  *  a  true,  beneficent  reconstruction,'  and  of  '  a  new 
departure  from  jealousies,  strifes,  and  hates,  which 
have  no  longer  adequate  motive  or  even  plausible 
pretext,  into  an  atmosphere  of  peace,  fraternity,  and 
mutual  good-will.' ': 


B  a  s  t  a  n ,  B  .B  .ftussell. 


SKETCH   OF  THE    LIFE 


OF 


B.   GBATZ    BROWN. 


same  convention  nominated  Hon.  B.  Gratz 
-*-  Brown,  now  governor  of  Missouri,  for  vice-presi- 
dent. 

We  give  the  following  brief  sketch  of  the  life  and 
services  of  Gov.  Brown  :  — 

"  The  nomination  of  Gov.  Brown  of  Missouri  for 
vice-president  by  the  Cincinnati  Convention  would 
have  been  a  fine  stroke  of  policy,  had  it  not  been  one 
of  those  happy  hits  which  seem  to  occur  by  the 
natural  fitness  of  things,  or  to  spring  out  of  the  air. 
A  native  of  Kentucky,  a  grandson  of  a  distinguished 
senator,  born  at  Lexington  in  1826,  educated  at 
Transylvania  University  and  Yale  College,  he  studied 
law  at  Louisville,  but  settled  in  St.  Louis,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  State  legislature  from  1852  to  1859. 
He  was  one  of  the  originators  of  '  The  Missouri 
Democrat,'  which  he  edited  five  years.  While  a  boy, 
he  conceived  a  deep  repugnance  to  slavery,  though  he 

307 


308  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF 

belonged  to  .a  slaveholding  family ;  and,  while  in  the 
Missouri  legislature,  made  a  powerful  antislavery 
speech,  which  was  the  initial  step  of  freedom  in  that 
great  State.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  raised  a 
regiment,  and  afterwards  commanded  a  brigade,  and 
took  the  foremost  part  in  organizing  the  movement 
which  made  Missouri  free. 

"  Elected  to  the  Senate  in  1863,  he  served  on  im- 
portant committees,  and  made  an  honorable  record. 
In  1870  he  was  nominated  for  governor  by  an  upris- 
ing of  the  people  against  the  dictation  and  interfer- 
ence of  the  administration ;  and  his  name  roused 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  to  the  highest  pitch,  and 
he  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  His 
administration  has  been  as  honorable  as  it  is  popular, 
and  he  is  to-day  the  admiration  and  the  idol  of 
Missouri.  A  clear-headed,  acute,  energetic  man,  alive 
to  the  very  finger-tips,  with  a  fine  presence,  a  winning 
address,  and  a  power  of  attaching  friends  and  awa- 
kening enthusiasm  greater  than  even  Fremont  pos- 
sessed, he  is  the  natural  leader  and  the  fittest 
representative  of  the  young  life  and  heroic  hopeful- 
ness and  energy  of  the  Great  West.  His  nomination 
was  fortunate  for  the  reform  movement,  which  he  has 
done  more  than  almost  any  other  to  inaugurate  ;  and 
his  election  will  be  still  more  fortunate  for  the 
country." 


B.   GEATZ  BEOWN.  309 

He  retired  from  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
in  1867,  and  declined  a  re-election.  He  was  the  first 
to  protest  against  the  proscriptive  constitution  in 
Missouri ;  and  was  nominated  for  governor  by  the 
Liberal  Republicans  in  1870,  and  elected  by  forty 
thousand  majority,  after  a  bitter  contest.  He  is  forty- 
six  years  old,  stout  in  stature,  an  able  writer,  and 
one  of  the  most  original  thinkers  in  the  West. 

A  gentleman  who  lately  saw  Gov.  Brown  says, 
"  The  candidate  for  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  has  a  striking  appearance.  He  is  tall,  broad- 
shouldered,  has  a  fine  figure,  and  a  head  which  at  once 
indicates  the  student  and  thinker :  it  is  large  and  well 
shaped.  The  features  are  clear  cut ;  the  expression 
of  the  face  is  keen  and  shrewd ;  the  eyes  are  bold  and 
frank  ;  and  the  whole  appearance  of  the  man  is  re- 
markable. His  forehead  is  high.  His  hair,  which  is 
of  a  dark  red  color,  falls  smoothly  over  his  neck :  it 
curls  naturally.  The  color  is  a  strange  one  :  it  is  not 
the  ordinary  red,  and  it  is  not  auburn ;  but  it  has 
a  color  of  its  own,  —  a  smooth,  soft  red,  which,  with 
the  mass  of  his  hair,  gives  the  head  an  appearance 
which  is  perfectly  unique.  The  beard  is  long,  full, 
and  of  a  decided  red.  The  face  looks  manly,  bold  ; 
the  eye  has  a  quick,  decided  look.  The  man  impresses 
you  at  a  glance  as  a  man  of  mind,  of  nerve,  of  char- 
acter." 


310  SKETCH  OF   THE  LIFE  OF 

"We  have  selected  the  above  testimony  from  two 
gentlemen  who  know  Gov.  Brown  well,  and  who,  we 
believe,  are  perfectly  reliable.  He  was  also  nomi- 
nated by  the  Baltimore  Convention  for  vice-president. 
The  following  is  his  letter  of  acceptance  to  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Cincinnati  Convention  :  — 


EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,  JEFFERSON  CITY,  May  21,  1872. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  Your  letter  advising  me  of  the  action  of  the  Lib- 
eral Republican  Convention  at  Cincinnati  has  been  received;  and  I 
return  through  you  my  acknowledgment  of  the  honor  which  has  been 
conferred  upon  me.  I  accept  the  nomination  as  a  candidate  for  vice- 
president,  and  indorse  most  cordially  the  resolutions  setting  forth  the 
principles  upon  which  the  appeal  is  made  to  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States.  A  century  is  closing  upon  our  experience  of  republican 
government;  and  while  that  lapse  of  time  has  witnessed  a  great  expan- 
sion of  our  free  institutions,  yet  it  has  not  been  without  instruction  also 
of  grave  dangers  to  the  stability  of  such  a  system.  Of  those  success- 
fully encountered  it  is  needless  to  speak ;  of  those  which  remain  to 
menace  us,  the  most  threatening  are  provided  against,  as  I  firmly  be- 
lieve, in  the  wise  and  pacific  measures  proposed  by  your  platform.  It 
has  come  to  be  the  practice  of  those  elevated  to  positions  of  national 
authority  to  regard  public  service  but  as  a  means  to  retain  power.  This 
results  in  substituting  a  mere  party  organization  for  the  government 
itself,  constitutes  a  control  amenable  to  no  laws  or  moralities,  impairs 
all  independent  thought,  enables  a  few  to  rule  the  many,  and  makes 
personal  allegiance  the  road  to  favor.  It  requires  little  forecast  to  per- 
ceive that  this  will  wreck  all  liberties,  unless  there  be  interposed  a  time- 
ly reform  of  the  administration,  from  its  highest  to  its  lowest  station, 
which  shall  not  only  prevent  abuses,  but  likewise  take  away  the  incen- 
tive to  their  practice.  Wearied  with  the  contentions  that  are  carried  on 
in  avarice  of  spoils,  the  country  commands  repose,  and  resents  the  effort 
of  officials  to  drag  it  again  into  partisan  hostilities.  I  will  zealously 
sustain  any  movement  promising  a  sure  deliverance  of  the  perils  which 
have  been  connected  with  the  war.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  only  those  are 
now  to  be  feared  which  come  of  an  abuse  of  victory  into  permanent 
estrangement.  The  Union  is  fortified  by  more  power  than  ever  before, 


B.   GKATZ  BROWN.  311 

and  it  remains  as  an  imperative  duty  to  cement  our  nationality  by  a 
perfect  reconciliation.  At  the  North,  widespread  sympathy  is  aroused 
in  behalf  of  those  States  of  the  South,  which,  long  after  the  termina- 
tion of  resistance  to  the  rightful  federal  authority,  are  still  plundered 
under  the  guise  of  loyalty,  and  tyrannized  over  in  the  name  of  freedom. 
Along  with  this  feeling  is  present,  too,  the  recognition,  that  in  complete 
amnesty  alone  can  be  found  hope  of  any  return  to  constitutional  gov- 
ernment as  of  old,  or  any  development  of  a  more  enduring  unity  and 
broader  national  life  in  the  future.  Amnesty,  however,  to  be  effica- 
cious, must  be  real,  not  nominal ;  genuine,  not  evasive.  It  must  carry 
along  with  it  equal  rights  as  well  as  equal  protection  to  all ;  for  the 
removal  of  disabilities  as  to  some,  with  enforcements  as  to  others,  leaves 
room  for  suspicions  that  pardon  is  measured  by  political  gain.  Espe- 
cially will  such  professed  clemency  be  futile  in  the  presence  of  the  renewed 
attempt  at  prolonging  a  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus,  and  the  persist- 
ent resort  to  martial  rather  than  civil  law  in  upholding  those  agencies 
used  to  alienate  the  races  when  concord  is  most  essential ;  and,  in  pre- 
paring another  elaborate  campaign  on  a  basis  of  dead  issues  and  arbi- 
trary intervention,  all  will  rightly  credit  such  conduct  as  but  a  mockery 
of  amnesty,  and  demand  an  administration  which  can  give  better  war- 
rant of  honesty  in  the  great  work  of  reconstruction  and  reform.  In 
the  array  of  sectional  interests,  a  republic  so  widespread  as  ours  is 
never  entirely  safe  from  serious  conflicts.  These  become  still  more 
dangerous  when  complicated  in  the  question  of  taxation,  where  unequal 
burdens  are  believed  to  be  imposed  by  one  party  at  the  expense  of  an- 
other party.  It  was  a  bold  as  well  as  admirable  policy  in  the  interest 
of  present  as  well  as  future  tranquillity  to  withdraw  the  decision  of  in- 
dustrial and  revenue  matters  from  the  virtual  arbitration  of  an  electoral 
college  chosen  with  the  single  animating  purpose  of  checking  a  party's 
ascendency,  and  refer  them  for  a  more  direct  popular  expression  to  each 
congressional  district.  Instead  of  being  muzzled  by  some  evasive 
declaration,  the  country  is  therefore  invited  to  its  frankest  utterance ; 
and  sections  which  would  revolt  at  being  denied  a  voice,  out  of  defer- 
ence to  other  sections,  would  be  content  to  acquiesce  in  a  general  judg- 
ment. If  local  government  be,  as  it  is  undoubtedly,  the  most  vital 
principle  of  our  institutions,  much  advance  will  be  made  towards  estab- 
lishing it  by  enabling  the  people  to  pass  upon  questions  so  nearly 
affecting  their  well-being  dispassionately  through  their  local  representa- 
tion. The  precipitance  which  would  force  a  controlling  declaration  on 
tax  or  tariff  through  a  presidential  candidacy  is  only  a  disguised  form 
of  centralization,  involving  hazardous  reaches  of  executive  influence. 


312  SKETCH  OF   B.    GRATZ  BROWN. 

A  conclusion  will  be  much  more  impartially  determined,  and  with  less 
disturbance  to  trade  and  finance,  by  appealing  to  the  most  truthful  and 
diversified  local  expression.  Industrial  issues  can  be  likewise  emanci- 
pated from  the  power  of  great  monopolies,  and  each  representative  held 
to  fidelity  toward  his  immediate  constituents.  These  are  the  most 
prominent  features  of  that  general  concert  of  action  which  proposes  to 
replace  the  present  administration  by  one  more  in  sympathy  with  the 
aspirations  of  the  masses  of  our  countrymen.  Of  course,  such  concert 
cannot  be  attained  by  thrusting  every  minor  or  past  difference  into  the 
foreground;  and  it  will  be  for  the  people,  therefore,  to  determine 
whether  these  objects  are  of  such  magnitude  and  present  urgency  as  to 
justify  them  in  deferring  other  adjustments  until  the  country  shall  be 
first  restored  to  a  free  suffrage  uninfluenced  by  official  dictation,  and 
ours  becomes,  in  fact,  a  free  republic,  released  irom  apprehensions  of  a 
central  domination.  Without  referring  in  detail  to  the  various  other 
propositions  embraced  in  the  resolutions  of  the  convention,  but  seeing 
how  they  all  contemplate  a  restoration  of  power  to  the  people,  peace  to 
the  nation,  purity  to  the  government,  that  they  condemn  the  attempt 
to  establish  an  ascendency  of  military  over  civil  rule,  and  affirm  with 
explicitness  the  maintenance  of  equal  freedom  to  all  citizens,  irrespec- 
tive of  race,  previous  condition,  or  pending  disabilities,  I  have  only  to 
pledge  again  my  cordial  co-operation. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

B.  GRATZ  BROWN. 

Hon.  Carl  Schurz,  President,  Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  Vice-President,  and 
Messrs.  William  E.  McLean,  John  G.  Davidson,  and  J.  H.  Rhodes,  Secre- 
taries, of  the  National  Convention  of  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  the  United 
States. 


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